Ransom
by EXO-LNCTzenCaratARMY
Summary: When 4 of SM's idols are taken in a brazen kidnapping the KPOP world is thrown into a frenzy. The remaining members are left to wonder whats happening while the captured idols are thrown into a living nightmare. NCT x EXO
1. Prelude

Prelude

Junwoo wasn't a particularly special man at first glance. He came from a single parent home, had a college education and worked a normal job at a surveying firm. Nothing particularly interesting. What most people didn't know was that Junwoo had spent years developing underworld connections all over the world, establishing favors with the rich, the powerful and the law, and a reputation as one of the most influential underworld leaders in South Korea. The other thing about Junwoo that most people wouldn't know was that he craved recognition and power, and would do most anything to get. The fact that most people didn't know this was about to cause some major problems for some of the world's biggest idols.


	2. It Begins

_Chapter 1_

July 25th

Junmyeon leaned heavily against the wall in the practice room, desperately sucking in air after the intense dance practice, the other members were similarly sprawled out around the room. Jongdae was just lying in the middle of the room and Chanyeol didn't seem to be able to move from his position on the floor either. Jongin, Sehun, Minseok and Yixing had the audacity to only look slightly out of breath and Suho couldn't help but mentally curse the four dancers. It simply wasn't fair that he felt like he had run to marathons and those four looked like they had just finished their warm ups. Baekhyun was the first to break the silence that had fallen

"Is the new choreographer trying to kill us?" He asked amused, "we haven't been worked that hard in I don't know how long", Junmyeon couldn't help but laugh a little at the youngers way of breaking the silence.

"I don't think so, but we are definitely going to be feeling this tomorrow, so I suggest going out tonight before the worst of the aches kick in…my treat" The last part Junmyeon added almost as an afterthought. The others quite visibly brightened.

"Can we get chicken Hyung?" Jongin asked smiling widely, and Junmyeon nodded in agreement. Jongin walked over and offered a hand to Junmyeon helping him up. The others slowly stood up as well, well except Jongdae who required the assistance of both Minseok and Sehun to get up whining the whole time.

"WAEEEEE, don't pull so hard".

The nine members decided to walk to the quiet take away shop just a block away from the studio instead of driving, it was late enough that they wouldn't be recognised. Once they had arrived the group went through the usual struggle of deciding what to order before Junmyeon just told them to order whatever before Kyungsoo killed one of them. He received beaming smiles in return and all Junmyeon could think was _that was a mistake_.

3 hours later and with a considerable lighter bank balance the members finally headed home. The piled into the van and began the short drive home.

Just across the street an unremarkable middle aged man called a untraceable number, "They're headed back now, they'll be there in about 15 minutes…..don't screw this up _He_ won't be happy if you do. Is the other team ready? Good. Move in at the same time"

Across Seoul most of the members of NCT were hanging out at the NCT 127 dorm. Suffice to say there was chaos. Chenle and Jeno had decided to gang up on Mark in a pillow fight which led to Taeil running to his defense which then…. Well you get the picture soon the living room was a mess of pillows and bodies. Taeyong had finally got Jaemin in a headlock and the others were slowing down as the high wore down.

"Ahhhhh Hyung let go!" whined Jaemin as he tried to wiggle free, but to no avail. "Ah okay ill stop I promise" Taeyong let a small smirk grace his features as he realised the younger. Jaemin turned around to glare at the leader before settling against the couch with hands up in a mock surrender. The rest slowly also found their way over to the couches and draped themselves around. Doyoung was lying over Johnny and Mark, Mark had his feet resting on the arm of the chair Haechan occupied with Renjun. Chenle and Jeno were lying against the sofa that Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, also known as Jeffery, currently occupied etc. The boys attention was quickly fixed to the T.V which Ten had turned on in order to watch the action-comedy they had decided on earlier (that event almost caused world war 3). They quickly settled into the film and one by one the younger ones started to fall asleep. Taeyong spared a glance at Mark who just held up his hands like 'I'm not their mother, I didn't know they'd fall asleep'. Taeyong sighed and quickly decided that they'd just have a sleepover. A thought he quickly conveyed to the other members. Some looked pleased others…..less so, perhaps daunted would be a better expression. Just as he went to pick up Jaemin with Yuta to carry him to an actual bed, not the side of a sofa, there was a knock at the door.

"Who the heck is calling at this time of night?" Mark asked rising from where he was sitting waking Doyoung in the process.

"I have no idea" Taeyong replied disconcerted.

"I'll go check" Yuta sighed walking to the front door. Just as he reached for the door handle the door burst open.

Minseok sighed climbing out of the van, they were all wasted and Minseok couldn't wait for his bed. The group quickly made their way towards their shared apartment and Jongdae used his key to open the front door. The all tumbled through the front door and into the living space which was where the nightmare started.


	3. It Begins pt 2

_Chapter 2_

There was a collective gasp as Jongin flicked on the light switch to reveal 9 men in black and masks situated around the perimeter of their living room. "What the hell!" Jongin yelled. The others quickly formed a defensive circle as the tiredness quickly disappeared and was replaced with adrenaline.

"Now now Jongin don't be so impolite, you should respect your elders", one of the men, clearly not Korean, stepped forward and went as if to shake Jongin's hand.

Jongin stepped back as if repulsed and shot back without thinking "I tend to reserve my respect for people who don't break into my home in the middle of the night".

"Ahhh what a shame" the masked man sighed shaking his head, "and here I thought we could do this civilly… oh well." He pulled out a black handgun and levelled it at Jongin's forehead. The members all gasped and Jongin went white. The other men also pulled out an assortment of firearms and levelled them at the group. The members held onto each other silently speaking with their eyes. What the hell was happening? Junmyeon pulled Jongin behind him and swallowed before thinking careful and addressing the man who was clearly the leader.

"What do you want?"

The man grinned behind his mask now this was the response he wanted.

"Well I want a lot of things but right now I want you all to line up against that wall," gesturing with his gun to the back wall that held the groups photo wall. The others looked to Junmyeon and Minseok grabbed onto his arm silently asking the question as to obey or not. Junmyeon allowed a ragged breath to escape before nodding. The group quickly moved to the back wall and lined up standing shoulder to shoulder with each other.

The leader was pleased, this was going all according to plan. He began to speak "Nice to see you can do as your told, now let me introduce myself. You can call me Mr. Smith and as of right now I hold each of you lives in my hand so Do. Not. Piss. Me. Off. Do you understand?" He reinforced his final words by tapping the barrel of his gun again Chanyeol's forehead. The boys shakily nodded and mumbled out affirmatives. "Good, now we are all just going to wait together until I get a phone call, you are not to move or talk at all. Do you understand. Breaking these rules will result in a very unpleasant outcome for you." The man smiled wickedly and raked is eyes over the frame of men in front of him. They all nodded and he went and took a seat on one of the couches.

Baekhyun was trembling, and he could feel Sehun and Jongdae beside him shaking as well. But the man last words had triggered a thought in his mind. The man had talked about a phone call and he still had his phone on him! He figured it was too risky to call the police but he reckoned he could get a text out to Manager Youngjun then he could call the cops. He discreetly pulled out his cellphone behind his back and tried to figure out how to do this without being able to see. Baekhyun figured he knew his way around his phone pretty well and managed to open his messages. He started texting a SOS to Manager Youngjun when disaster struck.

"Oi you, what are you doing?!" One of the masked thugs yelled. Baekhyun frantically tried to send his half-finished message before the intimating figure reached him and pulled him harshly out of the line by his hair. The others quickly went to his defense but were met with cold glares and the barrels of gleaming guns, effectively stopping them all in their tracks. The man wrenched his arm from behind his back and pulled his phone out of his hands. The leader stalked up from his spot on the couch. He took the phone out of the thugs hands. Now with both hands free said thug moved to pull both of Baekhyun's arms painfully behind his back. Baekhyun hissed in pain as his arms were pushed into the unnatural position.

"My, my what do we have here" the leader cooed reading the text. "Help. Men in th…, what a shame you didn't get to send this." The leader said moving his hand to run down the side of Baekhyun's head. "Now I thought I told you no moving. Hmmm. Now I'm pretty sure that texting requires movement." Without warning the leader moved his hand from Baekhyun's head and struck Baekhyun clean across the face.

Baekhyun's whole head snapped to side with the force of the blow, a small trickle of blood coming out of cut on his cheek caused by one of the leader's rings. A small cry escaped his lips. Junmyeon, Minseok, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo went to rush forward but found themselves pushed against the wall by much larger bodies. The leader bent down to where Baekhyun had fallen on the ground nursing his cheek, "now this is just me fulfilling my word, I said there would be consequences for any breakage of the rules." He stood back up and then kicked Baekhyun in the stomach. Hard. Baekhyun curled up in on himself as pain ignited across his stomach. Leader went to kick him again but was disrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

As Yuta reached for the door handle the door burst open and was thrown back by the force of it. Taeyong and Mark gasped at the sight of the now destroyed door. The others who had been resting were quickly awoken by the loud noise. And if that wasn't enough the men in black swarming through the door would ensure they wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon. Yuta had regained his bearings and was greeted by the sight of unknown men filing into his home. Shaking his head just to check this as real Yuta quickly went on the offensive. This was his home. You couldn't just barge in. He swung his fist in the direction of the closest man, a large man with like 12 ear piercings.

Taeyong and Mark gaped at the sight in front of them and as Yuta went on the attack they both simultaneously went to his aid. Rushing in fist flying, or in Taeyong's case legs. Taeyong kicked a man with a baseball cap pulled low over his face into the guy behind him, and Mark punched a guy with a nose piercing straight in the face.

"Yuta!"

"Taeyong! MARK!"

"What the Hell"

"What's going on guys"

"Help!"

The cries of the other boys were lost in the noise of the gunshot.

With the deafening noise all went silent. The boys uninvolved with the fight went completely still, now 100% awake. The three involved in the fight were shocked by the violent noise Yuta was on the ground clutching bruised ribs, Mark and Taeyong were still standing but not for long. In their shock their opponents took the opportunity to send them both to the ground. One particularly vicious kick from Piercing guy to the chest sent mark flying into Yuta on the ground. A savage kick from Baseball hat from behind to the back of the knees sent Taeyong to his knees another to his back sent him to the floor. One of the other men, a guy in Adidas shoes, grabbed a handful of his red hair and yanked his head up towards the doorway forcing him to his knees. Taeyong winced as his head was yanked backwards pulling on a small cut that had opened in the fight a small rivulet of red making its way down his pale skin. However, he stilled when a tall man in a suit walked through the busted doorway.

"Wonlee, please ensure that they are all contained."

The man spoke in a soft voice but there was a sinister undertone that sent shivers down the boys spine, in fact the man's whole presence was terrifying even the way he stood was scary. Wonlee, who turned out to be baseball hat guy, and whoever the rest of the thugs were that were not guarding Taeyong, Mark and Yuta went over to the terrified others. Taeyong tried to turn his head so he could see what was going on but the man holding onto his hair just gave it a vicious tug forcing his head back to the suit clad man. Mark tried to get up but was firmly pushed down by a boot to the chest. Yuta seemed to have got the message and remained where he was as the other boys were rounded up, flinching and scared and brought over. They were all pushed into a line facing the suited man Taeyong, Yuta and Mark still on the ground but now all on their knees. The tall man clapped "3 minutes not bad Wonlee. You still had 2 minutes to round all the brats up". Doyoung, Lucas, Johnny and Taeil frowned at being called brats but the other were too scared to really react. The tall man walked over to Renjun and grabbed onto his chin "The young ones didn't cause as many problems as I thought they would". Renjun was trembling trying to pull his face away from the terrifying man.

"Get your hands the hell off him"

The tall man turned around to Taeyong who had spat the words out with such venom it had even taken some of the other members aback. But, those who really knew Taeyong or had experienced his protective streak before knew exactly the lengths Taeyong would go to too protect his members. Honestly it slightly scared them.

"What did you just say?" The tall man smirked at the younger man on the floor bending down to his level. "My that's not a very polite thing to say to your elder". The man grabbed onto Taeyong's chin harshly and shook it back and forth. "I think you should apologise." Taeyong glared at the man in front of him and then spat in his face.

"There's your apology."

The man holding onto his hair yanked harshly upwards and Taeyong felt strands of hair being pulled from his head. Taeyong knew what he had just done was stupid but this…monster had broken into his home, attacked his friends and hurt them and he wanted _Taeyong_ to apologise? The tall man quietly wiped his face with a handkerchief and turned away. Only swiftly turn around and deliver a side kick to Taeyong's head. Taeyong fell to floor with a harsh gasp as blood leaked onto his eye from a gash just above his eyebrow. The others were absolutely terrified. The younger ones were desperately trying hold in tears. How had this gone so wrong. 10 minutes ago they had been watching a movie together. Now their friends were on the ground and they were being held hostage by unknown men.

Wonlee was the next to speak, "What do you want us to do next Junwoo?" The tall man now identified an Junwoo, turned to Wonlee. "Take Mark, Taeyong, Lucas and Jaehyun to the van. You know what to do with the rest. I need to make a call to our counterparts."

"Wait!" Taeyong and Mark shouted at the same time. Junwoo turned around. Taeyong picked himself of the ground showing the damage done to his face to the others for the first time. Blood was trickling down the side of his head and the others were scared. Taeyong turned to Junwoo quickly organising his thoughts, "I'm assuming this is for some sort of ransom demand, right?" Junwoo nodded intrigued as to where this was going. "Then you don't need Jaehyun or Lucas or even Mark. I'm the defacto leader of NCT if you need a hostage you can take me."

"An interesting proposition but why take just one of you when I could take you all if I wanted?" Junwoo asked.

"Because it's easier, less people to worry about…. And I won't fight back I will walk right out the door and into your what I'm assuming is a van without causing a fuss." Taeyong cast his eyes to the ground. He could hear to small exclamations from his fellow members, the most noticeable was Mark.

"Hell no, you are not going anywhere with them alone."

Taeyong sighed "Mark…."

But before he could get any further Junwoo cut in. It's true its easier with less people, so I'll make a deal with you and Mark. If you go with my men without making a fuss I will leave Lucas and Jaehyun here. This is the only deal I'm willing to make so take it or leave it. "

Taeyong glanced over at the other members and his decision was made the minute he saw the terror etched on their faces and he knew it was the same with Mark.

"Okay".

Junwoo clapped smiling, but it wasn't really a smile no smile should ever be that scary. "Perfect, now I just have one phone call to make and we will be on our way."


	5. Chapter 4

The leader halted his attack on Baekhyun and immediately went to answer his mobile. "Yes Boss, yes… no problems except for one kid trying to send a text. Yes….okay we'll start moving." The phone call ended and the leader turned back to the scared EXO members. "Guess it's time for some of us to take a little trip."

The members eyes were still fixed of Baekhyun who was curled up on the floor and didn't fully understand what the older man had said. "Hey! Kids, listening!" the man yelled. EXO's eyes flicked to the man, eyes wide and scared.

"What do you mean 'some of us" Kyungsoo asked almost scared of the answer _I don't want them to split us up_.

"Well 2 of you are about to become our guests and the rest are going to relay a message to some very important people." The man smiled, and luckily, I've already decided who's coming with, Suho and Kai."

"No"

"You can't do that!"

"Take me instead."

The man didn't seem pleased by the outburst from the remaining members and moved over to the prone Baekhyun, "Shut up!" He placed a combat boot clad foot onto Baekhyun neck a pushed down cutting of the airflow. Baekhyun gasped and gagged on the ground frantically trying to push the bigger man of.

"Okay! Ok, we'll stop, see all quiet". Junmyeon rushed to placate the angry older man, the others falling silent watching their brother writhe on the floor. Baekhyun continued his struggle on the ground. The man spared Junmyeon a sly look before releasing Baekhyun who doubled over coughing as he desperately tried to fill his lungs _this man is crazy._

"I expect no further outbursts, do you understand!" The leader was less than impressed and really just wanted to get the rest of the operation over with. He waved a hand and two of his men came over and pulled Junmyeon and Jongin out of the line quickly tying their hands behind their back.

As Junmyeon was pulled from the line all he could think was _I get taking me, I am the leader after all but why Jongin? And what do they plan to do with the others? He said they were going to be a message but what kind of message. This cant end well._ Jongin winced as the man behind him pulled harshly on rope tying his wrists behind. He tried to loosen the knots but he found he had no give in the rope to work it _Damn it._

The leader clapped his hands like a child who had just been given a birthday gift early, "Perfect, now.." He quickly drew his weapon again and pointed it at Junmyeon's head "We are going to leave our message and none of you are going to resist or I will put a bullet through your leaders head."

 _Resist what?_ Was the collective thought from the other members. Their question was quickly answered as 7 of the men converged on the members lined up against the wall and let their fists fly.

"No! Wait stop please!" Junmyeon thrashed against the man holding him as he watched the men he considered brothers get beaten. "Please! St.." Junmyeon's head snapped to the side with the force of being pistol-whipped. He could taste the copper taste of blood in his mouth where the gun had split his lip.

"Be quiet and watch or I might accidently kill one instead."

Jongdae was in a heap on the ground barely holding onto consciousness when a final kick to the head sent him into the blissful dark. Chanyeol was bleeding from a multitude of places as a man with gold rings continued to attack. Minseok was desperately trying to protect his head as much as possible as steel tipped boots found their way into his side expelling all the breath from his lungs in painful gasps. Yixing fell into unconsciousness as one of the tightened his grip on his neck strangling him. Baekhyun had been the first to embrace the dark, all it had taken was another savage kick to the head. Sehun was being stubborn and holding onto awareness with all he had but eventually even he had to succumb to the dark. Kyungsoo was the last to fall. He quickly spoke to his brothers gritting his teeth through the pain, "We'll find you, so don't worry about us". With that he took a gun to the head and collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Junmyeon and Jongin looked on in horror, tears finally making their way down Junmyeon's and Jongin's faces as they watched their family be beaten into unconsciousness. The leader watched all of this going down with cold calculating stares. "All right, lets' go". With that Junmyeon and Jongin were pulled from their home and into the back of an unmarked black van, they gave little resistance scared that anything they did might bring further harm to their brothers. Then as two light pricks to the back of the neck sent them both into blissful unawares Junmyeon and Jongin were taken away from their family, friends and futures.


	6. Chapter 5

Junwoo ended his call and turned back to the hurting and frightened youths. "All is well, so we will be departing. Taeyong and Mark, you will accompany us out of the building. The rest of you will remain here with one of our associates for the next hour. Once the hour is up our associate will leave and you will be free to leave, call the police or do whatever you want."

The man behind Mark pulled him to his feet and pushed him and Taeyong towards Junwoo. Junwoo grabbed onto Taeyong's shoulder harshly and spoke clearly. "If you cause any problems my man will kill one of your members starting with Jisung. Do you understand?"

Taeyong looked in Junwoo's eyes before turning back to his band mates and sighing, "Yeah I understand we'll go quietly."

"Good, good. We'll have no problems then. Let's go."

Mark and Taeyong looked at their pseudo family one last time saying with their eyes what they couldn't say with their mouths and finally walking out the door. Junwoo and one of the other thugs, a guy with long black hair, put an arm around Mark and Taeyong guiding them out of the building. Mark looked at Taeyong asking with his eyes

 _What do we do?_

 _I Don't know, just do what they say for now._

 _We'll figure this out_

 _I Hope so._

As soon as they made it out of the building they were directed to 2 black vans most of the thugs including Junwoo got in the first van but ring guy, Wonlee and long hair guy got in the second van with Taeyong and Mark. They fastened their hands to cuffs on the side of the van. Then moved to inject them both with a clear liquid.

"Wait! What is that?" Mark asked pulling away from the needle.

"Just something to help you sleep, can't have you remembering where we go. Now stay put or do we need to call our friend and have him shoot one of your little bandmates?" The older man roughly grabbed Marks head pushing it to the side exposing his neck. "You know, you look quite pretty like that" the man leered.

"I have a few connections who would pay for you if the deal falls through." Mark shuddered at the man's clear intentions and Taeyong glared at the man with deathly intensity; if looks could kill. "Don't give me that look boy, you'd be worth more" Taeyong just continued to glare.

"Ahh just hurry up Jaeyong",

"Yeah, yeah. I got it". With that Mark felt the needle slip beneath his skin and inject the cold liquid into his system. Taeyong was next and both boys could feel their awareness disappearing, they looked at each other before descending into the darkness.

The men inside watched as the kidnapped idols fell asleep then removed their masks and hats. "Aish, that took way to long Wonlee", one of the men complained "I need a drink."

"No drinks until we have these two and the other 2 locked up Sam" Wonlee replied wryly. "This went easy enough but the cops are going to be onto us within the next hour so we got to cover our tracks."

"A Criminals work is never over right?" Jaehyun spoke. Reaching a hand over to thread a hand through Mark hair a small smile playing over his lips. Silence descending and the Van continued to move off to an undisclosed location.


	7. Chapter 6

Awareness came slowly to Junmyeon. The first thing he noticed was the blaring headache. The second thing was that he was not at home, rather he was in a dark room with 2 beds pushed to the side and a security camera blinking red in the corner

"What the Hell?"

The third thing that happened was the memories rushing back. Images of masked men, Baekhyun being suffocated, Kyungsoo's final words before being beaten into unconsciousness. Air left Junmyeon's lungs in a sharp gasp and he struggled to regain his bearing under the weight of the terrifying memories, Junmyeon recognised the beginnings of a Panic Attack and desperately tried to reign himself in. A groan to his left finally pulled him out of his panicked stupor. Junmyeon turned to his left and saw 3 bodies face down, the closest one starting to move. 3. 3, there was something wrong with that number. Wait only Jongin had been taken with him so who were the other two?

"Argh my head" Mark complained as he slowly came to. "Did you spike my drink again Johnny?" Junmyeon jumped back at the sudden noise. Mark moved to roll over before agonizing pain ripped across his abdomen forcing him to curl in on himself. "Argh damn it, what…" the memories came flooding back in. Which meant he wasn't at home. Mark started upwards ignoring the pain flaring across his stomach. Eyes darting left he saw two unmoving bodies and to his right he stared straight into the eyes of an extremely confused Suho.

"Mark?"

"Suho?"

The two idols stared at each other for a moment longer before Mark went move towards Suho. "Ahh!" Mark collapsed back onto the ground clutching at his ribs. Suho was surprised by the sudden exclamation but quickly went into 'Eomma Mode' as the other members called it. He got up as quickly as his aching head would allow him as quickly made his way over to Mark's side.

"Mark? Mark, can you tell me what hurts?" Suho talked quietly, reassuringly.

Mark spoke in quick pained gasps, "My ribs. When they came and took us we fought back." Mark managed a wry smile, "I guess this is the result." Suho tried to smile at the younger but the pained look stopped him from doing so. He pulled Marks head into his lap Reaching over to his ribs.

"I'm going to check your ribs, just to make sure they aren't broken. Okay?" Suho looked to Mark for permission. Mark nodded so Suho quickly moved his shirt up and gasped at the multicoloured array of bruises on Marks torso. Suho muttered darkly under breath "I'll kill them". Mark laughed quietly at that jostling his ribs.

"Ah Ah, don't make me laugh Hyung"

Suho glanced down at the use of the term but smiled lightly. He pressed lightly against the bruises trying his best not to harm Mark any further. He deduced that there were none broken but he couldn't be sure that there weren't cracked ones, he told Mark as much.

"Just rest, don't move too much." Suho instructed. The hesitantly he asked the question he really wanted the answer to, "can you tell me what happened?" Mark looked up at Suho before sighing.

"Yeah, we were at the 127 Dorm having a hang out. Well actually we were having a pillow fight that turned into a movie night that turned into a sleepover and" Mark realised he was rambling and grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, we were just putting the younger ones to bed when there was a knock at that door. Taeyong thought it was a bit odd that…. TAEYONG! Oh my God!" Mark rushed to get up but was held firmly down by Suho.

"You shouldn't move, don't worry he's fine… look he's over there with Jongin, at least I assume that's him I can only see his back, but I looks like him."

"Does he have red hair?" Mark asked

"Yes"

"Ok, that him" Mark relaxed a bit before frowning, "Why haven't they woken up yet?"

"I'm not sure" Suho replied worried himself, "But, I'm sure they'll wake up soon. I should probably check him over for injuries as well."

Mark nodded, "They were really rough with him, after Junwoo and.." Suho quickly interrupted Mark

"Junwoo? You mean he told you his name?

Mark nodded "Yeah introduced us to himself and his right hand man Wonlee." Suho was concerned by that fact, but asked Mark to go back and continue with his Story. "Well after the knock Yuta went to answer the door. But the door burst in by itself knocking Yuta on his butt. Then the men swarmed in. Yuta went on the attack and Taeyong and I joined him. By this point all the others were waking up. We weren't doing terribly but then there was a gunshot and everything went still. They used that as a chance to knock all of us down. That's when Junwoo came in. He, he grabbed Renjun which set Tae off which made Junwoo mad he kicked him in the head and he was bleeding and…" Suho grabbed the younger tightly staving off what appeared to be a panic attack.

"Hey, hey its okay" Suho rushed to assure the younger. Mark just grabbed onto his shirt and was still for a few minutes before pulling away.

"Sorry hyung."

"It's okay, don't worry."

Mark took a few deep breaths but before he could start up again Suho cut in, "You don't have to finish"

Mark smiled, "No its okay, I'll be fine now I think. So Junwoo kicked Mark and then told us that Tae, Lucas, Jaehyun and I were going to accompany him. That didn't sit well with Tae, or me for that fact, so that self-sacrificing idiot he tried to get them to just take him _alone_. They ended up taking him and me so I guess his plan half worked." Mark half chuckled at that. "I mean it's so _him_ , he even offered complete obedience if they left us behind. Taeyong is many things obedient isn't one of them. I guess I'm just constantly surprised by how far he's willing to go for us. Mark realised he was rambling again and grinned up at Suho apologetically.

Suho laughed, "It's what's natural I guess. All good leaders are like that. I'd like to think I would do just about anything for those I care about."

Mark looked ready to ask another question when simultaneous groans to their left grabbed their attention.


	8. Chapter 7

Kai came to awareness quickly, the throbbing in his head had been what had lured him out of his sleep. Almost instantly the memories came back and he jerked up almost hitting a concerned Junmyeon in the head.

"Woah, whoa. Calm down Jongin it's me!" Junmyeon pulled his head back from where he had been leaning over to avoid getting hit be Jongin's hard head. Jongin looked around the room quickly assessing that there were no threats in the room and there was a younger male currently resting in Junmyeon's lap. He looked familiar and it took Jongin's still fuzzy head a moment to place him.

"Wait, Mark? What the…" Jongin was confused by the youngers appearance. Had they been taken as well? Well obviously, he wasn't here by his own will. Jongin mentally berated himself, if the bruises and the careful way he held his ribs were anything to go by he had been taken by force. Mark smiled sadly.

"Yeah uh hi Kai. Taeyong and I got kidnapped as well." Mark hadn't spent a lot of time with Jongin and felt a little awkward, not sure how to address him. Jongin on the other hand pulled himself into a sitting position nursing the back of his neck.

"Ah you can call me Jongin hyung, we're label mates after all." Jongin liked the younger man. The few conversations he had had with the younger were interesting though he had spent more time with Taeyong. Speaking of which Taeyong was also making the sad climb back into awareness. The other was obviously in pain and Jongin had no idea what to do. Junmyeon seeing Taeyong beginning to wake quickly spoke to Jongin.

"Come and take my spot with Mark, I'll help Taeyong, Mark told me the people who took him were pretty rough." Jongin nodded manoeuvring himself slowly still feeling the lingering effects of the drug taking Junmyeon's position with Marks head now in his lap. Junmyeon moved over to the furthest body carefully placing a hand against his shoulder

"Taeyong?"


	9. Chapter 8

"Taeyong?"

Taeyong could hear a voice calling his name softly, who was calling him. He went to ask but was hit full force with both pain and memories. Oh god, they had been kidnapped. Where was Mark? Where was he? Why did he hurt so much and who the hell was this person incessantly calling his name? Taeyong forced his eyes open first taking in the bleak room and low lighting before focusing on the figure in front of him. It took him a minute but he recognised the handsome face in front of him as Suho, leader of EXO. Wait. What was he doing here?

Junmyeon saw the look of confusion crossing the youngers face and so quickly explained "Jongin, and I are here as well. We were kidnapped too." Taeyong nodded before quickly regretting it as pain spiked down from the right side of his head.

"Aaaaish" He lowered his head nursing it in the crook of his arm. Junmyeon quickly assessed the boy in front of him. Obviously his head was causing him issues and if he had to guess he'd say that he had hurt his ribs as well. Taeyong heard Junmyeon speak softly to him "Taeyong I'm going to move you into my lap so I can check you over ok?" Junmyeon waited for Taeyong soft assent before carefully moving the boy into his lap. Taeyong hissed at the movement to his ribs and Junmyeon was shocked to see blood caked and dried on the right side of his head. He hadn't been able to see it earlier the way Taeyong was lying but there was a gash just up from the corner of his eyebrow down towards his ear.

"Shh, that looks painful Taeyong you might have a concussion but there's no real way for me to tell. Do you feel dizzy of nauseous?"

"No. Just hurts" Taeyong replied having more or less controlled himself again.

"Ok. That's good" Junmyeon replied, "I'm going to check your ribs okay? I want to make sure none are broken." Junmyeon repeated the process he had done with Mark and was glad to see less bruising than with Mark and quickly came to the same conclusion. He told Taeyong as much.

"So, nothing broken or cracked I think just bruising. You're a little better off than Mark so I think it's safe for you to get up, just be careful."

Taeyong nodded and with the help of Junmyeon he sat up against the wall. He was glad to be able to see Mark and Jongin properly. He waved at Mark looking him up and down for injuries and asked softly,

"Are you okay?" There was so much emotion in those words and Mark felt tears prick in his eyes. Taeyong was clearly guilty that they had been kidnapped and that he couldn't protect him like normal.

"I'm fine Taeyong, don't warry about me. Plus, it's not your fault so get rid of the guilty look on your fault. You couldn't have prevented this. Not this time" Mark spoke sternly to his leader. Taeyong ducked his head guilty at being caught in the act of blaming himself.

"Awww, you guys are so cute!" Jongin smiled and both Mark and Taeyong were a little embarrassed.

"Yah" Junmyeon reached over to slap Jongin "don't embarrass them" Jongin clutched his arm in mock hurt.

"Hyung, you hit me! How dare you, you're meant to love me." Jongin laughed and was soon joined by Mark and Taeyong. Leaving only Junmyeon staring at the three. _What have I gotten myself into?_

Whatever conversations may have followed were cut short by the big metal door slamming open.


	10. Chapter 9

Junwoo walked leisurely into the room hands in pockets eyes landing on each of the now awake idols. He was pleased to see fear present; scared people were easier to control. The boys were still where they had originally been put, the only change were the two elder's positions with the younger ones. Their protectiveness evident. Even now they moved to shield the youngers. Junwoo was content just to survey the captive idols watching as they became more agitated as time passed. He wanted to know who would be first to speak. His bet was on Jongin or Junmyeon, but it was young Taeyong who surprised him.

"Why are we here?" The statement was blunt and direct and a complete surprise to Junwoo. A surprise, though unexpected was completely welcome, Junwoo preferred to keep things interesting.

"Why indeed." Junwoo practically preened.

Junmyeon was the next to speak. Rising to his feet and steeping in front of his dongsaengs.

"Don't play games, why are we here?! What to you hope to accomplish through this? You can't possibly hope to get away with it." Junmyeon was mad. How dare this man take them from their homes and then parade in front of them with that smug expression. Junwoo was impressed by the leader's bravery but bravery did not have a place here. It needed to be stamped out. Junwoo motioned towards one of the few security cameras in the room and almost instantly 5 men entered the room. All in black with revolvers. Junmyeon took a step back.

"Let me explain a few things." Junwoo turned cold. This was the man who ran an underground empire. He had done a lot worse than kidnap a few rich pretty boys. Junwoo's tone sent shivers down the idols spines, it felt as though the room had dropped a few degrees in temperature. He took a step forward and Junmyeon took a step back. "You don't get to demand anything from me. I don't have to give you anything. If I so chose I could leave you here to rot and no one would know until we sent them your bodies." To say the idols were terrified would be an understatement, they didn't let it show but the older man was terrifying them. "You will comply with what we ask of you, failure to do so will result in punishment." Junwoo eyed each of the boys individually making sure his point got through. Do you understand?" The boys looked around each other before nodding slowly. "Good" and just like that his demeanour completely changed again losing the coldness that was so terrifying. Junwoo clapped his hands and another man with a camera came in. "This is Dayan he's going to record a message to send to your friends and family as well as SM. I have to leave but remember to comply with what you are told. My men won't hesitate to hurt you." With that Junwoo turned and left.

Jongin exhaled sharply when Junwoo finally left, glad the scary older man had left. His attention now turned to the new face. The fact he made no effort to conceal his face was slightly disconcerting. The man had a sharp face, hawk like eyes and had an all-around shifty look. Jongin didn't like the way this man was eyeing them like they were pieces of meat. Junmyeon was having similar thoughts. Taeyong and Mark were still trying to make sense of the situation they found themselves in. The man took a step forward before speaking.

"You call me Sir. Do not disobey, do not talk and do not go slow." His words were sharp and grating. The boys exchanged looks. 'Sir' then told them to stand up. This got an instantaneous reaction from Junmyeon,

"Wait, Mark shouldn't stand up he might have cracked ri- Ah!" A fist to the face quickly silenced Junmyeon. Junmyeon turned towards his attacker only to be met with one of the masked men.

'Sir' tutted quietly, "What did I say? Do not disobey even on the behalf of others." Sir walked up into Junmyeon's personal space, "your punishment was light this time. Next time it won't be." With that he turned to the other boys stunned on the floor and the speed at which things had happened. "Stand".

Jongin, Taeyong and Mark complied. Mark being helped up by Jongin and Taeyong on either side before eventually standing on his own. Mark could still feel Jongin hand at his back though both steadying and comforting him. He appreciated the gesture. 'Sir' then spoke to the thugs accompanying him. "You know the drill. Set them up, make sure the look good. Come and get me when you're done." With that he turned and left. The boys were surprised by the man's sudden exit but were more concerned by the advancing men. One of the men started to speak and Taeyong and Mark instantly recognized the voice. It was the same man that had kidnapped, drugged and creeped the heck out of them earlier…. Jaeyong.

Taeyong was instantly wary of the man and it showed, he remembered how he had touched and spoken to Mark and he didn't like it. Jongin and Junmyeon picked up on Taeyong's wariness, but couldn't ask about it given the current situation.

"Nice to see you too boys" Jaeyong noticed Taeyong and Marks reaction and was pleased. Jaeyong liked seeing fear, pain, discomfort; preferably all at once. "Start with the older two" Jaeyong spoke to the thugs motioning towards Jongin and Junmyeon. "String them up in the middle." Jongin didn't like the words "String them up" but didn't have much time to ponder their meaning as he was pulled by 2 men to the middle of the room. Mark and Taeyong took a step towards their Hyung's as they were pulled away before they were greeted with cold steel, reminding them to be still. Junmyeon tried to give them a reassuring smile but I was hard given the circumstances. He decided to go along with whatever was going on and he told the others to do the same. He half expected to get hit for talking but instead he got a weird smile from the creepy guy. As he was pulled to the middle of the room he started to notice little things he hadn't seen before. Namely chains and ropes in various places around the room and random holes in the floor. He quickly caught on to what being strung up was probably going to entail. Jongin too was quickly reaching the same conclusion. One of the men holding Jongin moved over towards to door where a complicated set of ropes and pulleys were located. How they hadn't noticed them earlier was beyond Jongin but they had been fairly preoccupied. The man loosened one of the ropes and a clanking above Jongin alerted him to the chains descending from above him. The other man grabbed onto Jongin's wrists, Jongin reflexively tried to pull back but a tightening of the grip on his wrists served as a warning. Jongin sent a slightly scared look to Junmyeon, to which he returned a reassuring smile. Junmyeon tried his best to convey with his eyes that everything would be okay. Jongin took a deep breath before allowing his wrists to be pulled above his head, stretching his shoulder and arms. His wrists were attached to the cold shackles and as soon as they were in place the man by the pulleys tightened the chain connected to Jongin's new binds. Jongin felt his wrists get pulled sharply up and he had to rise onto his tiptoes to avoid being fully lifted off the ground. His shoulders and arms were now painfully stretched above his head. Jongin grunted as the stretch settled. Junmyeon tried to move towards Jongin as soon as the pulley had tightened but he was quickly held onto by the two men either side. Their fingers painfully digging into his upper arms.

"Cut it out" The man's voice was hard and Junmyeon stilled. Junmyeon was then surprised to see two posts being brought into the room and placed in two of the holes in the floor. Each of the posts had pieces of rope attached to a ring at the top. Junmyeon's next surprise was a harsh kick to the back of legs that sent him to his knees. Taeyong remembered the same thing happening to him during their kidnapping and winced in sympathy. Junmyeon was momentarily stunned and in that time each of the men on either side had grabbed one of his wrists. The ropes attached to the post were quickly wound and tied tight around his wrists leaving him in a similar position to Jongin, only Junmyeon was on his knees with his arms spread eagled on either side. The stretch wasn't too bad if he lifted off his knees but as soon as he shifted he was pushed back down. "Stay" was the firm command. Junmyeon did as told slowly rotating his arms trying to relieve some of the stress.

Taeyong and Mark were scared, there's no other words for it. They had been taken from the home in the middle of the night, beaten, kidnapped, taken to who knows where are now their role-models had been chained and tied up right in front of them. Mark was terrified as to what would happen to them now. This definitely wasn't like the movies. They watched in tense silence as the men and Jaeyong inspected their work before turning to them. "Now for you two." Jaeyong smiled, there was something about the younger two that made his heart race. Perhaps he enjoyed their struggles a little too much, he never put much thought into his behaviour. Jaeyong walked over to Taeyong first his thugs right behind.

Taeyong was repulsed by the man now standing in front of him but he knew that for now he needed to do as he was told. He had seen how quick they had been to strike down Junmyeon-hyung and he didn't think his head would appreciate another knock. Jaeyong was surprised that when his men grabbed Taeyong's wrists he put up no fight. Where was the spirit he had seen earlier? Jaeyong wasn't too worried he knew it would surface soon, he was sure of it Taeyong just needed motivation. However, this did make his job easier for the moment. His men pushed Taeyong against the back wall and it as then that Taeyong saw the set of cuffs attached to the wall just above head height. Taeyong figured out where he was going and gave no resistance when the men pulled his arms up and attached his wrists to the cuffs. He gave them an experimental tug when the men let go but there was zero give and the cold metal bit into his skin where the cuff had been put on just slightly too tight. Taeyong was left with his arms in an awkward position where they weren't outstretched but nor were they to his side and Taeyong know that if he stayed in this position for too long it would start to hurt. Jongin and Junmyeon could see what was going on as they were tied at an angle in the middle of the room. When the men left Taeyong alone Junmyeon mouthed _you okay?_ Taeyong nodded with a slight smile. His smile quickly disappeared when Jaeyong stood right in front of him and grabbed onto his chin.

"I think I like you like this", Jaeyong laughed pulling the youngers head in all directions before shaking his head and petting his hair. Taeyong glared angrily and tried to shake the man off. Jaeyong smiled, he still had his spirit. Jaeyong stepped back after running his finger along the dried blood on Taeyong's head. Junmyeon and Jongin were repulsed by the way the man was acting but they were even more concerned when he approached Mark. Mark was still slightly bent over protecting his aching ribs, and Jaeyong immediately took notice.

"Ah looks like we were a bit rough on you Mark eh? Jaeyong stepped back and allowed his men to do their work. He took pleasure in watching the way Marks face contorted in pain each time he was forced to move. This is what turned him on, other people's pain. Mark meanwhile, was trying to adjust to his new position. He too had been pushed to his knees and his arms had been cuffed similar to Taeyong. He was glad to be on his knees however as it allowed him to relieve some of the pressure on his ribs. Mark eventually settled into his new position and was able to look over to Taeyong who looked concerned. He gave him a small smile to say he was okay. Even though this non-verbal communication was working Mark longed to be able to talk to his friends. But, he didn't see that happening anytime soon.

Jaeyong and his men stepped back observing their work. Jaeyong and the other men raked their eyes over the prone idols and the boys were deeply unsettled by their gazes. "Right", Jaeyong clapped his hands. "Now for the fun part". _Fun part?_ All 4 idols were scared, if this was just the set up what was the 'fun part'?


	11. Chapter 10

The fun part it seemed started by ripping off all their shirts. Jongin was wary when the masked men approached them but became scared when switch blades appeared. However, all the men did was quickly and cleanly slice their shirts down the middle leaving their chests exposed. Well all of them except Jaeyong. He slowly unbuttoned Marks shirt, running a hand over the now visible bruises almost reverently. It was making Mark extremely uncomfortable and making Taeyong visibly annoyed. Taeyong kept his mouth shut though, he figured it wouldn't do them any good if he started talking. Jongin gasped when he saw the multicoloured bruises adorning Taeyong and Marks chests, but was concerned by the way the man was touching Mark. Similar thoughts were going through Junmyeon's head. Junmyeon decided he had had enough when the man's hand started tracing the faints outline of Marks muscles and Mark started trying to get the man off him.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Junmyeon was disgusted by Jaeyong, Mark was only 18, barely even legal if he was consenting which he most certainly was not. But the look in Jaeyong's eyes when he turned to Junmyeon was downright terrifying. He looked as though someone had interrupted the most important moment of his life. But his hands left Mark so Junmyeon counted it as a win. He glared at the man when he stalked over to him and refused to cower when the main grabbed onto his hair and pulled in back savagely. His neck was exposed and the stretch on his bound arms increased.

"What happened to being silent hmm?" Jaeyong was mad. He had been having fun studying the pretty colours on Mark chest. How dare this boy interrupt him. Jaeyong decided to make an example out of the boy and quickly flicked out his own switchblade and left a deep red gash across the boys torso. The boy…Suho… gasped in pain head falling forward, watching as the red lines dripped down his chest to the floor. Jaeyong smiled, red was his favourite colour and it looked good on Suho's pale skin. The other captives were quick to respond. Jongin instantly started to struggle against his bonds, trying to get to Suho. Eventually his skin would break and red lines flowed down his arms. Taeyong and Mark were stunned silent for a minute before they started calling out to Suho

"Hyung!"

"Are you okay?"

Jaeyong was getting annoyed by the added noise, it made it harder to hear Suho's pained breaths. But, he was happy to see that the boys weren't broken yet. "Silence!" he shouted pulling back Suho's head and letting his blade rest on his neck. "Be quiet or I will slit his throat." The harsh threat instantly quietened the other idols. Jongin still looked mad and silently seethed at Jaeyong. Jaeyong gestured to his men and they quickly went to work securing a blindfold and gag on Suho before moving to Jongin and starting to beat the crap out of him.

Jaeyong watched gleefully as Jongin was beaten, this one didn't turn him on and he wasn't allowed to make him bleed so he was happy to let the other men have some fun with the dancer. He would just enjoy his pained expressions and small gasps and grunts of pain. His men were experienced and knew what to do.

The first strike completely expelled all air from Jongin's lungs. The next one to his head made him see stars. The next hits were just a blur of pain as Jongin tried to figure out what was going on. Jongin's position with his arms above him made his torso the perfect punching bag and by the time the men moved off bruising was already evident all over his torso. Jongin gulped in air as he tried to draw in oxygen. Jongin slumped in his restraints allowing his arms to take the weight of his body, he was nearly completely out of it but was just hanging onto consciousness. Everything hurt his ribs the worst. _At least I match now_ Jongin didn't smile at the thought. Junmyeon couldn't see what was going on but he could hear the pained sounds Jongin made and he could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Junmyeon frowned but there was literally nothing he could do and that frustrated him more than anything _I'm the leader I should be doing something!_ Mark and Taeyong were concerned for their friends and scared, if that was what happened to their elders what was going to happen to them? Taeyong hated feeling helpless but that exactly what he was. Chained to a wall unable to move he was helpless.

Just like Junmyeon, Jongin had a gag shoved in his mouth but he didn't have a blindfold put on which was interesting.

Satisfied that Jongin and Junmyeon were adequately taken care of Jaeyong turned his attention to the two youngest. This was going to be fun. Jaeyong was interested in how much of a reaction he could get out of Taeyong, while Mark had first grabbed his attention it was the other boy who had taken up most of his thoughts. Taeyong was someone Jaeyong wanted to completely break.

Mark was cold, for more than one reason. Firstly, the wall he was chained to was damn cold but the second reason was far more chilling. Jaeyong had let his gaze linger on Taeyong a bit too long and Mark didn't like what he saw in the man's eyes. It was far more terrifying than any other look he had ever seen. It was for this reason when he saw the man coming towards him that he breathed a small sigh of relief. Mark had been half sure than man was about to do something unspeakable to Tae, and Mark wasn't sure if could've stood through that. Jaeyong decided to start with the Maknae of the group, he was sure that Taeyong would react to him playing with Mark. Jaeyong walked over to the other and ran a finger over his bruised chest.

"I don't think I need to mark you up more eh Mark?" Jaeyong laughed to himself, it was true though. The younger male was already sporting an impressive array of bruises and while Sir had wanted them pretty he didn't want them incapacitated. But there was another type of mark Jaeyong would be more than happy to leave. "You know, Taeyong rudely interrupted us last time. So, I think it's time to finish what we started pretty boy." Jaeyong was grinning ear to ear at Marks petrified expression. But he was more interested in Taeyong's dark glare. Jaeyong lowered his mouth to Marks neck and placed a light kiss there. Mark squirmed trying to get rid of the other male

"Stop. Stop It"

Jaeyong just laughed a little and turned his attention back to Mark's neck leaving a trail of rough kisses until he found a spot he liked and bit down.

Mark felt completely violated. This …this…monster was touching him and he couldn't do anything about it. The older man was obviously not listening to any of his pleas. Then the man bit down on his neck. Mark stiffened and then the man continued to suck and Mark couldn't help it.

"Stop Please! Please! Stop." Mark could feel tears now and try as he might he couldn't blink them away like normal. Jaeyong smiled as he felt the younger man start to shake with tears.

The tears were the last straw for Taeyong. He had seen what had happened to the others when they broke the rules but he couldn't help it, his Mark was crying. It was his job both as a leader, friend and Hyung to stop this.

"STOP!" Taeyong yelled at the man startling Junmyeon who couldn't see, and Jongin who was falling into unconsciousness. The sound was music to Marks ears as Jaeyong removed his mouth from his neck. Mark quickly breathed in. Jaeyong turned towards the older NCT member ending up on the receiving end of what Mark would call a 'killer' glare. That was exactly what Taeyong would like to do at the present moment. This man no longer deserved to live. To say Taeyong was livid was an understatement and it both relieved and frightened Mark. Jongin was surprised as well as Mark and Taeyong's voices having brought him back from the brink. The young leader's courage was amazing. Junmyeon was still confused having to rely on only his hearing.

"Get your filthy mouth and hands off him." Taeyong demanded and Jaeyong was more than happy to oblige. This was the Taeyong he wanted to see, the one he wanted to break. Jaeyong walked over to Taeyong and spoke softly.

"Were you Jealous TaeTae? Jaeyong smirked and Taeyong was disgusted.

"I hope you rot in Hell"

Jaeyong choose to ignore that comment and instead started exploring the art in front of him. He let his hands roam to pale skin tracing the different colours present. Taeyong was disgusted but didn't say anything because he figured anything was better than having this man near Mark. The lack of reaction from Taeyong started to annoy Jaeyong. "Hey, why no noise for me?" after receiving no reply Jaeyong figured in was time to up the ante and started biting and sucking much like he had with Mark but all of the younger boys torso and neck. Taeyong felt the tears start to prick at his eyes as his body was violated but he kept his eyes on Mark. The maknae's eyes were full of tears and he could see the questions. Why wasn't he resisting? Mark knew why though.

Jongin on the other hand didn't and was becoming increasing agitated by the other mans actions even Junmyeon without being able to see was sick. Luckily it would seem Sir entered the room and called Jaeyong off. Taeyong went limp sucking in air free of the putrid mans stench. Mark mouthed _are you ok?_ To Taeyong and he just nodded emotionally drained from what had just happened.

Sir set up a camera and a board with an amount in US Dollars. Mark had to read it twice to make sure he was reading it right. 20 Million USD for their return? In cash? Who has that much cash? Sir then filmed the board and then moved on to the idols present. Starting at Junmyeon prodding the open wound on his chest, then to Jongin pressing against the bruises causing the dancer to gasp in pain. Then Mark, Sir made sure to film the hickey left behind by Jaeyong. Taeyong was left and had to quickly pull himself together. Sir went slowly making sure to highlight all the damage done to NCT's leader. Then finally as a warning against SM disobeying their wishes Sir let the men in the room beat the idols in front of the rolling camera. Once he decided he had enough footage he turned off the camera and instructed the men to release their prisoners and leave. Each of the idols collapsed upon their release and it took a few minutes before they were able to pull themselves to each other. Mark clung to the tatters of Taeyong's shirt and mumbled apology after apology while Junmyeon and Jongin surrounded the two youngest in a protective embrace as if it would somehow shield them from the horrors they were living


	12. Chapter 11

_Back at SM HQ_

Following the kidnap of their friends NCT remained with the man for an hour before he left. Following that Jaehyun and Johnny instantly called the police and their managers, while Taeil, Doyoung and WinWin went to look after the other members. Yuta was still hurt and the younger ones were terrified. It took the three older boys hours until they all calmed down properly. By that time the police were at the dorm as were their managers. Yuta, Johnny and Jaehyun recounted the encounter to the authorities and staff. It was around then that the call about EXO had come in. One of the managers had turned white, well whiter than he already was and quickly gained the attention of everyone. He swallowed and then spoke, "Suho and Kai have been taken and the rest of EXO are in the hospital". Then came a hushed conversation between the managers and no doubt a call to the CEO, the rest of NCT was left stunned. Not only was Mark and Taeyong gone, but Suho and Kai were as well. _And_ the rest of EXO was in the hospital! What had happened. NCT was conversing quietly among themselves. Jisung was seated in Taeil's lap and he was soothingly stoking his head lulling the youngest to sleep. There were similar situations with the other members. WinWin had Chenle, Lucas had Renjun, Doyoung had Jaemin and Johnny had Haechan. Though most of the younger ones were growing independent it was times like this that reminder their hyung's that they are still children. Taeil and WinWin were sharing knowing looks as Jisung, then Chenle fell asleep, both exhausted by the day's events. The other dreamies were quick to follow, other than Haechan. Johnny was trying to convince the younger to sleep but Haechan was adamant about staying up.

"What if something happens while I'm asleep again? I don't want to wake up and find more people gone". Haechan sounded so broken and it broke Johnny's heart into about 6000 different pieces. Johnny knew that Haechan was especially close with Mark and that the situation as a whole was terrifying. All he could offer was assurance that they would all be there when he awoke, and that they would find their missing members. Haechan wasn't totally keen but he did eventually drift off, the need for sleep overpowering his fears. It was then that their manager came over and spoke softly to Taeil. Without Taeyong the 'leader' role fell to Taeil. They knew that Taeyong wasn't the official leader of all of NCT but to them he was, he was their pillar after all. But, without him the role fell to Taeil as the oldest. Taeil was distinctly missing his leader, he was a much better carer than leader but he would do his best until Taeyong was back. The manager spoke softly as not to wake the sleeping Jisung.

"They want to move you to the hospital for now".

"Wait, the Hospital? Why? Only Yuta was hurt and your guys said he would be fine." Taeil was confused by the strange the location but his manager explained.

"They want to put you and EXO together, so this doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, they are in the hospital at the moment so we have to go to them."

"Ahh, I understand", Taeil did it made a lot more sense to have them together so that they could protect just one group instead of two. He quickly relayed the information to the others and as quietly as they could. They picked up the sleeping members and carried them down to the vans.

"Aish, Jeno has either put on a lot more muscle or more weight since I last carried him." Johnny quietly exclaimed. It had been a bit of a journey getting all the kids in the vans without waking them but they had managed. Then they began the short journey to the private hospital SM used for the idols.


	13. Chapter 12

Chanyeol was in pain. His head was throbbing and the incessant beeping was not helping. Beeping? What was…. Everything came crashing down at once and Chanyeol quickly sat up nearly knocking poor Kyungsoo over.

"Hey, hey it's okay you big monkey. You're in the hospital", Kyungsoo quickly soothed the larger man.

Chanyeol groaned and lay back down, everything hurt, his face in particular. He reached up to touch the areas that hurt most but Kyungsoo caught his hands before he could.

"Don't." he sternly warned you have stitches from where one of the bastard's rings opened up your cheek". Chanyeol lightly brushed over the area and nodded. Kyungsoo's words however scared him, as it brought back the memories. Chanyeol looked at D.O with tears sparkling

"What happened to Jongin and Junmyeon?" Kyungsoo sighed and looked down

"We don't know yet. But we are going to find them." Kyungsoo spoke the last part with such determination that Chanyeol couldn't help but smile. Having put the pain aside and slightly organised his thought Chanyeol turned his eyes to the rest of the room. There were a lot of beds, which Chanyeol found odd especially given how lavish the room was, some of which were occupied by at least two members. Chanyeol smiled softly when he saw Sehun sleeping with Minseok the Maknae almost to big but they managed to make it work. Chanyeol was not however pleased by the bruises and cuts adorning each of his family members. It would seem none of them escaped the brutality and no doubt they would be feeling it for a while yet.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked softly. Kyungsoo replied just as softly but not without anger obviously directed at the abusers.

"Mostly, you were the last to wake. The doctors said Baekhyun and Yixing need the most rest. Yixing was strangled so his brain was deprived of oxygen for a while, and you saw what those creeps did to Beakkie. But luckily none of the injuries were major, so at least there's that."

"Okay" Chanyeol pulled his legs to his chest wincing slightly. "So what do we do?"

Kyungsoo sat in the new space "I really don't know". The rest of the conversation was cut short by the appearance of one of their managers. He looked worried and so Chanyeol and Kyungsoo immediately asked what was happening.

"There was another attack, I don't know all the details but NCT 127's dorm was attacked while they were all there. They are bringing them here in fact they'll be here any minute."

The EXO duo couldn't believe what they were hearing another attack?

Kyungsoo spoke first, "Do we know if any of them are hurt" Kyungsoo was concerned that what had happened to them had happened to their juniors but his fears were quickly put to rest.

The manager explained that there were very few injuries and that they were bringing them to the hospital so that both EXO and NCT were in the same place for protection and so they could figure this mess out together. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were both relieved by that. It was then that the babble of voices could be heard outside the door.

"Yah Johnny! Careful with his head."

"I'm doing my best okay, you be careful with Jisung"

"Both of you be quiet try not to wake the dreamies" spoke a much softer voice. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo looked at each other slightly amused by the conversation. The door then opened and they both leaped to their feet to see if they could be of assistance. In the door filed the members of NCT the older ones carrying the younger ones who were asleep. Taeil quietly greeted the two seniors as well as he could while holding an armful of Jaemin, he was surprised by the injuries adorning his seniors faces but Chanyeol waved off the concern. Kyungsoo was quick to direct the boys to place the sleeping children in the vacant beds. The room was near silent as the members tucked their juniors in Kyungsoo and Chanyeol just watched with both affection and worry. What had happened to these young people? They refrained from questions though until the older NCT members had got all the Dreamies settled. There had been one almost disaster as Jeno had started to awake after being more or less dropped onto the bed by Lucas who was exhausted from carrying the heavy dancer. But Taeil had quickly soothed the young man back into sleep before giving Lucas a look. The remaining idols then gathered in the lounge section of the room slightly away from the beds. NCT was quick to collapse onto the couches after properly greeting Kyungsoo and Chanyeol who quickly but a stop to the fancy honorifics and instructed the NCT members to just call them Hyung. This was like the signal for the younger idols who readily accepted and fell onto the couches. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were concerned by the pure exhaustion the kids were displaying. They were also quick to pick up on the two missing members from the group and while this was probably a conversation for the morning, well later on in the morning they needed to confirm their suspicions. It was Kyungsoo who broached the subject with just Taeil, he spoke softly and quickly confirmed that Taeyong and Mark had been kidnapped. After confirming that fact Kyungsoo made the decision to send the rest of NCT to bed, they could discuss later when everyone was awake. The rest of NCT were appreciative of this and quickly made their way to the empty beds or climbed in with the younger ones. Johnny was one of the ones who climbed in as he pulled Haechan into his chest. The younger let out a contented sigh and the others couldn't help but smile. WinWin also climbed in with Chenle and Lucas with Renjun. They quickly dropped off to sleep. Kyungsoo nodded contentedly when he saw them all asleep. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were then quick to follow into dreamland.

"DON'T GO!"

The piercing scream was quick to wake everyone in the room. All eyes turned towards the shaking figure sitting bolt upright in his bed. Haechan had awoken from what must have been a nightmare and Johnny was trying to soothe the frightened child.

"Hey, hey, Haechannie it's me, your fine. We're here. You're safe", Johnny was whispering to the younger male. Haechan's eyes were wide with fright unfocused so Johnny placed his hands on his face turning Haechan head to him. "Hey. Come back Haechan. It's me, you're safe. I promised remember." Johnny pulled Haechan so his head was resting against his chest and Haechan could hear his heartbeat. Steady and safe. Haechan felt himself pulled from the nightmare he had been trapped in. He lifted his eyes and was met with Johnny's worried ones. Haechan gave a watery smile.

"I thought you all left". Taeil felt his heart break all over again for the young singer.

"Never. Never Haechan we will always be together, you will always have us" Taeil moved to stroke the youngers hair and Haechan leaned into the touch. Slowly the rest of NCT made their way over to where the three were and a group hug was formed everyone just breathing in each other, that they were all still alive.

EXO smiled watching the cute scene "They remind me of us when we were their age" Baekhyun noted. They others shared a knowing smile, safe in the fact that they had not changed at all. The NCT group hug slowly broke up and they ended up on the beds with each other it was only then that Jisung noticed the others in the room,

"Ah! EXO sunbaenim, what..?" Jisung was extremely confused, as were all the other dreamies who had not heard the news. Jisung was worried at the state his seniors seemed to be in, given they were all sporting large bruises and cuts, why were they here? Xiumin saw the confusion and quickly interjected before things escalated.

"How about we all sit down and talk. We can fill everyone in and then we won't have to repeat ourselves." The others were quick to agree and that's how the managers found them a few hours later. Sprawled out over the couches tears long gone. They had explained everything the best they could to one another, relived the bad memories, shed a few tears, worried and now they were ready to find their missing brothers. EXO had been quick to instruct everyone to drop the honorifics and go with hyung, and NCT was happy is only for a moment. The EXO members felt an amazing amount of affection for the juniors and were ready to fight whoever had caused all this harm. Funnily enough NCT were having similar thoughts and when this was discovered there was laughter for the first time. Then they moved onto what was to be done next.

"For now we have to wait, the police and the company will be doing everything they can but there hasn't been a ransom demand yet so they are probably waiting for that." Chen spoke and it was like magic and the managers appeared. Xiumin asked what the situation was and their manger looked extremely uncomfortable.

"We received a ransom video but It was distributed to the media networks first so it's everywhere, we would have preferred for you not to have seen it. I'm sorry" their manager looked so downcast

"Why what's wrong? What have they done to them!?" Baekhyun was extremely concerned.

"It'll be easier if I show you but I really don't think the Dream members should see it" their manager insisted. This quickly caused a revolt.

"They're our family we deserve to know as well". Renjun insisted and the others mirrored his sentiment. "Okay but for the record this was against my advice" the manager assented. He then went over to the TV and plugged in the video and what they saw would forever scar them. The video started out blank before a voiceover started speaking.

"You do not know me and that is the point. With me I currently have in my possession 4 young men who you probably know very well." The video cut to CCTV footage of Suho, Kai, Mark and Taeyong unconscious on the floor. " They will remain that way unless our demands are met, further instructions will follow this video but our demands are at the end of this clip." The mans voice was distorted and it sent shivers down the idols spines. The video then cut to another clip and there were simultaneous gasps. One of the men the NCT members recognised was kissing and biting their leader the voiceover continued, "As you can see we are not above hurting our captives and if you refuse to comply much worse will happen". The clip cut the Junmyeon as he was tortured, Jongin being beaten, Mark being hurt and Taeyong's bruised and marked body. "I will leave you with these demands 20 Million USD in cash for the return of your idols. There will be no negotiations. Any attempt to stall will result in more of this" The clip cut the boys being beaten once again and then the screen went black. There was no sound apart from the soft cries of the members of NCT and EXO. Most of the younger ones apart from Renjun were in tears and clinging to the older members even Xiumin had ended up with a crying Chenle who he was softly speaking to in Chinese. Jungwoo was also in tears and was clinging to a slightly confused Sehun, he quickly moved to comfort the younger singer. Other members like Chanyeol, Lay, Taeil looked stunned unable to move. Kyungsoo, Johnny, Jaehyun looked ready to kill something or rather someone. The rest were in various states of horror, disbelief or anger. Baekhyun was the first of the EXO members to move. Moving over to Chanyeol before hiding in his larger body and allowing the tears to fall. This set off the others and soon there wasn't a dry eye in the room as the group mourned the loss of their innocence and the pain of their members. The managers chose to leave to give them a few minutes to compose themselves. Eventually the crying stopped and found everyone wrapped around each other drawing comfort from each other presence.

"How could they? How could they be so goddamn cruel!" Sehun exploded in a unusual fit of rage. "Mark and Taeyong are basically still children!"

"I don't know Sehunnie" spoke Yixing quietly, "For now our focus has to be just on finding them or giving these men what they want so no further harm comes to them."

Jaehyun spoke next "Yixing is right, we just need to get them back as soon as possible so that this nightmare can be over." The others nodded or made small sounds of agreement.

"So what do we do?" an extremely small sounding Jaemin asked

"We cooperate with the police, we give them every piece of information we can remember anything that might help them catch these guys" Doyoung spoke sharply and with intent.

"And if that doesn't work we find them ourselves" Ten confirmed.

Elsewhere, the 4 unfortunate captives were slowly awakening as sore bodies made their complaints known. "Owwwww, aish, did they have to hit so hard" Mark was complaining quietly the others murmuring in agreement. Their attackers had obviously not wanted them too badly injured as they had cleaned and bandaged the idols after they had fallen asleep, the majority of their wounds now hidden behind white bandages. Didn't mean it didn't hurt though. When they had each awoken the had been separated once again but hey quickly found their way back together appreciating both the warmth and the comfort the others brought. There was comfortable silence for a while as everyone woke up, but they knew it couldn't last there were too many questions that needed answering. Mark's thoughts had been full of just one pressing one and he wouldn't be able to rest until he knew the answer properly. Junmyeon decided to break the ice first so to speak and asked the classic 'Are you all okay?" That just got strange smiles. Junmyeon huffed "You know what I mean, are there any injuries I can't see that we need to look at" the others quickly replied no that the other men had done a remarkably good job patching them up. "Well that's good, but are you actually okay, not just physically", he looked meaningfully at the younger two who had been separated since the woke up choosing to rely on the older idols. Mark spoke first after a long silence,

"No" he turned to his leader "Why, why did you stop resisting? Why did you aggravate him? Why?" Mark was crying mostly because he knew the answer but he needed Taeyong to answer anyway. Junmyeon refrained from intervening as the younger man broke down into tears and he stopped Jongin as well. This was something they needed to work out.

"You know why Mark, Minhyung. I couldn't let him touch you. Better me that you." Taeyong was close to tears but he needed Mark to understand. Mark was stunned _he used my Korean name._ Taeyong only used his real name when it was something extremely important.

"But, what about you! You can't just let him walk over you!" Mark threw himself at his leader despite his own injuries. "You can't do that for me I won't allow it". Taeyong smiled at the person in his arms. Taeyong was crying, something that didn't happen too often.

"Mark, I'll always protect you. You are my little brother. Not by blood but in every other way that matters. You have always believed in me. So, I refuse to let anything bad happen to you as long as I can prevent it. I don't care if it kills me. I will do my best to keep you safe." Taeyong's declaration was firm and sincere and it sent the two older idols into tears, not to mention it had Mark sobbing. Never had anyone cared so much about him that he could remember.

"But, I don't want you to get hurt. Not for me." Mark did his best to halt his tears. "I know I cant stop you, you self-sacrificing idiot, but please do your best to avoid being hurt. Don't lose your will to fight".

Taeyong smiled, he was glad Mark didn't fight him on this. "Okay, I can live with that." Taeyong pressed a kiss to Mark's forehead. It was then that Junmyeon and Jongin made their presence known.

"I'm glad you sorted that out" Junmyeon smiled, Jongin continued "We went through a similar thing when one of our managers were abusive, you can't stop your leaders from protecting you, but you can help you them bear the burden."

Mark smiled back "I got it, thanks hyung"

The four shared a moment before the peace was shattered by one of the masked men coming into the room. They all jumped at the loud sound scared that more torture awaited but the man merely left a plate of food and water and left again. They all gave a collective sigh of relief.

"Do you think they'll leave us alone now hyung?" Jongin asked Junmyeon.

"I Honestly have no idea, we can only wait and see."

Taeyong being the least injured of the 4 got up and got the tray bringing it back to group. He winced every time he moved but nothing was too badly hurt. Just a very bruised body and damaged mind. He sat down carefully placing the tray in the middle. There was rice, Kimchi, and a bread looking thing. There wasn't much but they were grateful regardless. There were 4 bottles of water as well. Junmyeon quickly divided the meal. There were a few small arguments when _certain members_ wanted to give parts of their share. But that was quickly overruled and everyone shared equally. The decided to ration the water and they only drank a small amount each, given that they didn't know when they were going to be given water again. It was 10 minutes later, after some mindless conversation that Mark started feeling not so good.

"Hyung…"

"'What?" Mark quickly had the focus of all 3 of his hyungs.

"I don't feel so good" Mark placed his head in his hand and then with no warning collapsed onto Jongin, causing the older man to yelp in surprise and pain.

"Mark!"

"Minhyung!"

Taeyong jumped up to go to the fallen rapper but the sudden movement caused his head to spin in all directions and he too found himself on the ground.

"Ow", Taeyong felt his eyes begin to grow heavy. "hyung... what's happening?" Junmyeon pulled the lighter male into his lap.

"Hey, hey don't close your eyes please. Taeyong. Taeyong-ah!"

"Sorry hyung" Taeyong realised he was losing the battle, and uttered the quick apology before glancing at the unconscious Mark and following him into the dark.

"Mark! Taeyong!"

"Junmyeon-hyung, what's happening?" Jongin was scared because he could feel a heaviness settling in his own body. Junmyeon quickly put two and two together and realised that they must have been drugged and that given that the younger two had a weaker metabolism they felt the effects first.

"Jongin you have to fight it. Please", Junmyeon pleaded with the younger but Jongin too found himself slipping into the void. He only just managed to manoeuvre his body so he didn't end up crushing Mark.

"Aish" _I guess it's just me_ Junmyeon hadn't drunken any of the water choosing to save it for later so he figured that's how they had been drugged. He moved each of his juniors so that they were lying down comfortably. Then he leaned against the wall and waited for someone to come in. He didn't have to wait long before Junwoo and Jaehyun and 7 others entered the room. Junwoo seemed surprised to see Junmyeon awake. Jaehyun was less so, he just smiled which was honestly far more terrifying.

"Well, I must say I wasn't expecting any of you brats to be awake." Junwoo looked down at Junmyeon. "I'll make this easy", he motioned to one of his men and he produced another bottle identical to the ones that had drugged the others earlier. "Just drink it so we can continue. I wouldn't want to have to cause further harm to poor Jongin." He shoved the bottle into his hands. As Junmyeon undid the cap the other men went to pick up the others. Jaehyun went over to where Taeyong was lying and made a show of feeling up the unconscious boy. This made Junmyeon see red. It was bad enough when he was awake and now this monster was violating him while he was unconscious. He leaped at Jaehyun but was quickly caught by the other man. Junwoo sighed not entirely surprised by the outburst but annoyed nonetheless.

"Leave him alone you son of a…"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you Suho" Junwoo sternly warned the singer. "Jaehyun leave the damn boy alone, deal with the dancer instead" Jaehyun moved to follow Junwoo's orders and Junwoo turned back to Junmyeon. "Aish, this was really supposed to be easy but you had to make things difficult." Junwoo pinched the bridge of his nose before pulling out his gun and pistol whipping the unfortunate idol. Junmyeon immediately saw black and his now unconscious body sagged in the arms of the men holding him. Junwoo wiped off his gun and the turned around and left the dark room. The other men scrambled to pick up the remaining idols and follow Junwoo down the dark corridor.

 _Back at the hospital_

The safe idols were involved in a very quickly escalating argument with their CEO Lee Soo Min, the officers from the police and the NIS agents.

"We cant give ransom's to terrorists. It's policy. I'm sorry but you have to trust us on this. If we pay there is almost no chance you will see your friends again." The NIS agent was blank and unfeeling which set the other members off.

"What do you mean"

"We cant leave them there!"

"What the actual hell!"

"QUIET" Lee Soo Min had to shout to get the attention of his agitated employee's, they quickly realised what they had been doing and apologised calming down again. Soo Min addressed the NIS agents again "So, what you are saying is that because this is a high profile kidnapping the government had decided to label the culprits as terrorists and thus we cant pay the ransom. Is that correct?"

"Yes sir"

"That's utter bullsh.." Yixing was quickly cut off by Xiumin's hand.

"Yixing! That's not helping!"

"But it is, they are changing the rules because of who has been kidnapped. It's not fair!. Don't they realise what could happen to them!" Xiumin grabbed Yixing's hands.

"I do know, but you're scaring the younger ones and all this yelling is not helping us get anywhere. So calm down okay." Yixing turned around and realised that he had indeed scared the others. It wasn't often that Yixing got mad and when he did it was always scary.

"Aish, I'm sorry everyone. I'm just worried" Yixing sat down and put his face in his hands. Xiumin picked up where Yixing had left off.

"So say we accept that we can't pay the ransom, what then? What are you guys doing to get them back?"

"Rest assured Xiumin, we are doing everything we can to get them back"

"And what if your best isn't enough, what then?"

"It will be enough, don't worry."

The meeting with the authorities didn't leave them feeling very good. In fact, they were rather disheartened. They ended up together again around the couches. The T.V was on playing the same news that it had been for the last hour about the kidnapping. Various 'experts' had been called in by the news channels and none of the responses had been very good. The mood was sombre and depressing. Baekhyun eventual had had enough.

"Just turn it off, this isn't helping." The others agreed and Renjun moved to turn it off when the announcer switched to a group of fans who were obviously theirs. They were speaking with one of the news reporters and what she said stunned the group into silence.

"I hope they know that EXO-L's and NCTzens are here with them. They aren't alone in this and we will do everything we can to help."

"We love you!"

"We will do everything we can to help."

The boys were overwhelmed by the chorus of agreement from their fans. Chanyeol smiled,

"They really do love us." Johnny had been eerily quiet and suddenly bolted upright, giving Xiumin and Lucas a fright.

"That's it!" Johnny exclaimed.

"What's…it?" Ten replied.

"I've figured out how we can help find Taeyong, Mark, Kai and Suho!"

WHAT! The shout resounded from nearly every mouth.

"Yeah, think about it. We have millions of fans all over the world all with different abilities. I bet some of them were even around our dorm when this all went down. Why don't we but out a call to EXO-L's and NCTzens asking for their help. If two heads are better than one how about a million of them. "

Kyungsoo thought about for a moment. It was true that their Eri's had some serious skills. Chenle, who hadn't spoken since everything went down replied next,

"I think it's worth a shot. I mean we have nothing left to lose. Everyone knows they've been kidnapped."

"True"

"Let's do it then"

"Yeah its certainly better than doing nothing".

Xiumin nodded as the oldest it was his call to make, even though he rarely took -part in the decisions his group made.

"Okay let's do it. But how do we get the message out?"

Surprisingly it was Jisung who had the answer

"Let's do a double V live. That way we don't have to repeat everything." AZAZZ The others quickly agreed and moved to set things up.

They ended up setting up two cameras to record simultaneously. It was decided that Taeil, Johnny, Kyungsoo and Xiumin would do most of the talking and Yixing, Yuta and Johnny would translate in into their respective languages. The pressed start and Kyungsoo started speaking,

"I'm sure by now that you are all aware of what happened recently. We are making this to put out a call for help from all our dedicated fans all over the world." The Vlive continued and they outlined their plans to all their fans. The Vlive quickly became the most watched one on the site. At the end everyone gave their thanks and the feed was turned off.

"Now we wait".

Junmyeon woke with a pounding headache.

"Aish", Junmyeon rubbed his temples.

"Hyung, you're awake!" Jongin shouted. Junmyeon squeezed his eyes shut against the sound. It _hurt._ Jongin shifted his leader so he was lying in his lap. Junmyeon winced through the jostling but Jongin was decidedly comfier that the cold floor.

"hmmm"

"Is he okay?" Marks voice broke in quietly and Junmyeon was thankful for the low volume.

"He got hit over the head by the looks of it. Which is strange because none of us have any extra injuries. The last thing I remember is falling unconscious after Mark." Taeyong was confused. But he soon figured it out much to Junmyeon's amazement. "Ah. They must have drugged the water. Hyung didn't drink any of it, no doubt saving it for later. So, when they came to move us he would have been awake and they needed another way to put him out. Hence the injury."

"I see, silly Hyung"

Junmyeon decided this was a good a time as any to wake to the world.

"Don't say that about your Hyung." Junmyeon chided playfully painfully pulling himself upright out of Jongin's comfy lap and up onto the wall. They were in a new place this one thankfully void of any of the restraints the other had. This one even had what looked like a bathroom and a window. He checked over each of his dongsaengs carefully and he could find no further injuries. It was obvious someone had put in some effort into keeping them helpfully as most of the serious of their injuries has been treated. White bandages peeking out of new baggy clothing. Junmyeon looked at himself and found that he too was in new attire. He was somewhat disconcerted by the fact that someone had undressed them but he couldn't do anything about it. That was scary.

"Has anything happened?" Junmyeon asked the others. "How long have I been out?"

Jongin answered "Nothing happened, you were out about 4 hours as best as we can guess so given its dark again outside it must be almost 24 hours since we were taken." _24 hours?_ It had only been a day but it felt like so much had happened. Junmyeon resisted the urge to groan aloud.

"Is everyone okay?" He received mumbled assents from them all. Obviously, they were still hurting.

"Does anyone know where we are?" This time all he received were shakes of heads. This lack of communication was disturbing, "Yah! Everyone don't be so down. If you lot don't start talking ill have to bring out the big guns"

"You mean your jokes?" Jongin teased,

"My jokes are great"

"Hyung"

"I'll have you know…"

Taeyong laughed at the playful banter it made everything seem normal again, Mark joined in after Jongin took to impersonating one of Junmyeon's 'jokes'. Soon they were all laughing. As they calmed down Junmyeon stood up and walked over to the window. Outside was dark but he could make out some features. They were obviously on the outskirts of town and there was a mill in the distance…..

"Holy Sh..Crap"

The near cuss word gained the attention of the others very quickly. Quite possibly giving the three whiplash from the speed at which the turned

"What?"

"I know where we are." There was a beat of silence before the younger ones leapt to their feet.

"Really?"

"OMG"

"That's amazing hyung, where are we?"

"Where in a small town I guess just outside Seoul. My grandfather owned that mill in the distance."

"How unfortunate you'll never get to use that information" The new voice caused everyone to turn towards the door where Junwoo and Wonlee were standing. "No. You'll never get a chance to use that information, but how are you finding your new accommodations. You will be here a while." Junwoo smiled before laughing. He found it amusing to give them hope and then crush it into tiny pieces. No one answered his questions. "Ah well, I thought you might like to know how your other members are doing. But, if not we'll just leav.."

"Wait!" The cry came from 4 different mouths. "Please"

"Okay. I'm feeling generous today." Junwoo mentioned to Wonlee who set up a laptop and opened the Vlive application. They then watched the video their members had posted earlier. Junmyeon was nearly crying in relief when he saw all of his members sitting up and talking despite the bandages covering most of them. Jongin was similar. Taeyong and Mark were intently watching their members, glad to see no injuries aside from Yuta and Taeyong gave a sigh of relief. He hadn't been sure if Junwoo would keep his word and leave them alone. But now he knew they were safe he could breathe easier. They were all touched by what their groups were doing. They knew the power of their fans and they felt a little better. Of course, this wasn't going to last and as soon as the video ended the laptop was slammed shut.

"Don't have false hope boys. Even with your fans help there is no way anyone will be able to find you. You're stuck here until I say so. So here are a few rules. 1)Do not try to escape. If you do I will break your legs so you can't run again. 2) Do what we say and 3) Don't talk back. If you break any of the rules I will punish not just the offender but your counterpart as well." With that Junwoo spun on his heel and Wonlee followed slamming the door behind them leaving 4 stunned idols behind.

The request for help from the idols had opened the floodgates of support from all sectors. When the idols awoke the next day and starting going through the replies they were overwhelmed by the sheer response of the public. Not only were EXO-L's and NCTzen's getting involved but pretty much every other possible fandom. GOT7 and SEVENTEEN, being close friends with some of the members, had already called and offered their support and Jaehyun was left to coordinate that side of the ever expanding equation. Other bands and groups were also getting involved spreading the request to all corners of KPOP. It was unique because for once it seemed everyone, regardless of company or rivalry, was getting on board. It was pretty much the Collab of the century. NCT and EXO were overwhelmed by the responses, and despite getting told off first for doing the Vlive without permission, SM quickly got behind the movement. It was about 10 in the morning that perhaps the biggest surprise came. Baekyun received a phone call from an unknown number and went outside to answer it, less than 30 seconds later he came running in.

"It's RM from BTS". Well if that didn't send the room in chaos. Baekhyun turned the phone onto speaker so everyone could hear.

"Um Hi everyone" Namjoon was clumsy in his speech but he was pretty nervous, "Sorry I got your number from Jungkook, who got it from Jackson who.. you know what never mind I'm rambling sorry." Everyone had to laugh at the flustered leader of BTS. "Anyway, I wanted to say that we want to help. We have a pretty extensive following overseas so we thought well we thought. We want to help, I don't know what I would do if I had one of my members taken. That si if you want our help. I know we've been rivals as of late but we still really respect you all and we value the time we spent before the whole BTS vs EXO thing. Sorry. I'm rambling again." Namjoon cut off there and waited for their response. Honestly everyon was stunned by the offer. It's true that their companies had more or less forbidden them from contacting each other which had been sad as they had only just been started becoming good friends. Kyungsoo spoke on behalf of the group

"Namjoon, RM, I cannot tell you how grateful we would be for your help."

"Oh my gosh, im so glad you said that. We'll do everything we can t get the ARMY mobilised. We'll help you find you members."

"Thank you, we won't forget it."

"Don't mention it. I hope that if we had been in the same situation you guys would help us as well." After that the phone was passed to Xiumin who went off with one of the managers to discuss details with the leader of BTS. Following the excitement everyone was feeling more hopeful. With the ARMY, EXO-L's, Carats, Aghases, NCTzen's not to mention all the others working with them it couldn't be too long until someone found something that would help them find their family.

"We have a problem"

Junwoo turned his gaze to Mr Smith. Mr Smith was an…..interesting man. Originally from England the man had built a reputation for being untraceable and he just so happened to owe Junwoo a favour hence why he was here. Junwoo was weighing up whether or not to get rid of the man when the operation was over. However, if Mr Smith said that they had a problem then they almost certainly had a problem.

"What?"

"The fans are creating issues. Someone found the CCTV footage of the night we kidnapped the brats."

"How? I thought you cleaned the tapes."

"I did. Someone with much better skills then mine must have found some residual data and managed to do a reconstruction."

"Can it identify us."

"No. But you can make out shapes and figures as well as voices. Also, the make and model of our vans."

"Damn it"

"Exactly"

"Aiish", Junwoo pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Can you get rid of it or find out who found it?"

Mr Smith exhaled, "I cant get rid of the footage it's been shared too many times. But, I can probably find who found it."

Junwoo replied coldly, "Okay, make sure there is nothing too incriminating, then find out who found the tape and bring them here. We can't have whoever it is making more trouble for us."

Mr Smith smiled, one of those creepy spine chilling smiles, "Wouldn't it be easier for me to get rid of this person?"

"Yes. But one can never have enough leverage. I'm sure our guests care about their fans."

"Ah" Mr Smith's smile didn't leave even as he walked out of the room. He was excited to find out who was good enough to find files he wiped and then have some fun with them.

Junwoo watched Mr Smith leave with calculating eyes. He couldn't afford another slip up like this. If Mr Smith made another mistake that would be the end for him. Junwoo then turned his attention to the monitor to his left. The feed showed his hostages talking with each other while lying over each other. They seemed very comfortable with each other. Junwoo wondered what it would take to break that trust. A gleam came to his eye and Junwoo's ugly face distorted further as a Cheshire grin spread across his cheeks.

"Let's see what it takes for them to break"

Said idols were resting against each other trying to gain warmth from one another as the freezing concrete offered little in the way of comfort. They were conversing softly with each other. Talking about the randomest of things. From how Jongdae kept whining to Kyungsoo's movie to the new music they were each producing. It was calm and easy and for the first time since they were taken everyone was more or less at peace. Of course, that wasn't to last as Junwoo and Four other men came bursting into the room. Scaring the life out of the hostages who jumped to their feet. They were relieved however to see that Jaehyun wasn't there. It was sick really to think that that man shared the same name as their Jaehyun. How could two people be so different?

"Nice to see you all. I hope you are comfortable?" Junwoo smiled at the way they clung to each other. This was what he wanted to destroy their trust in one another.

"Well aside from being held against our will we're fine not that you care," Mark snidely replied before realising what he said and clamping a hand over his mouth. The other turned to him with wide yes completely shocked at the outburst. Taeyong smiled and gave him the thumbs up. He was glad that Mark wasn't so scared that he couldn't speak. It was perhaps though not the wisest choice of words. Junwoo laughed. His laugh bounced off the walls echoing in the small room.

"It's nice to see you haven't lost your nerve punk", Mark held Junwoo gaze as the older stared him down. "But that's not why I'm here. You see your fans have been causing problems and I find myself frustrated. SO I figured why not come and play a game with my guests?" The idols smiled at the thought of their friends but were worried by this game.

Jongin spoke firmly "And if we don't want to play?"

"I think you'll find you don't have a choice in the matter."

Junwoo motioned to his men and two went to Jongin restraining the dancer and pushing him to his knees as he struggled in their grips. The other two went to Mark and held him in a similar fashion. The lighter idol struggled in the hold of his captors but there was no point these were trained thugs. Junmyeon and Taeyong were the only ones left alone and they instantly went to the aid of their friends.

"Stop" Junwoo's voice was cold and it stopped the two in their tracks. They turned the Junwoo and were terrified by the smile stretching across his face. "This is how he game works. Either you," pointing at Junmyeon "Punch him" pointing at Taeyong "Or I hit them." Pointing to Mark and Jongin. "To demonstrate he walked over the Jongin and punched him across the right side of his face twice. The force of the blows pushed Jongin's head to the side and caused one of the unhealed cuts on his face to opened up again leaving a trail of red down his handsome face. "Do you understand?"

"Wait. You can't. I can't." Junmyeon turned wild eyes to Taeyong. He couldn't hit Taeyong, but he couldn't let this monster hurt Jongin and Mark.

"Hyung it's okay" Taeyong was by his side in an instant. "It's better me than them" Junmyeon shook his head and turned back to Junwoo. "Hit me instead, I'll take it all." Junwoo smiled again, honestly it was terrifying,

"That's not the game Suho. Should I demonstrate on Mark next?" Junwoo moved to the younger who pulled back as far as he could before changing his mind. Taeyong had done so much for him so he could do this. He closed his eyes and waited for the blow to fall but it never did. When he opened his eyes it was to Taeyong standing in front of him. He was breathing heavily.

"No. Don't touch him. I'll do it. We'll do it." Taeyong turned to Junmyeon. "Hyung, you have to. I don't blame you. You would never hurt me on purpose, this is on them." Junmyeonwas going through an internal battle, he didn't want to hurt Taeyong but he didn't want to let Mark or Jongin be hurt instead. He yelled in frustration,

"Ah! Why? Why are you doing this?" he jabbed his finger at Junwoo who just stood there. Taeyong moved from Mark to stand in front of Junmyeon.

"It's okay Hyung, it's okay. I forgive you" Taeyong pleaded with Junmyeon.

"You have 10 seconds before I start on Mark. 10. 9. 8.." Junwoo counted down slowly. He was immensely enjoying the turmoil the oldest was going through

7

"Taeyong, I cant"

6

"Yes you can"

5

"Please"

4

"Hit me. It's okay"

3

"I…"

2

"Now Hyung!"

1

"I'm sorry"

Taeyong was prepared for the first blow, his head snapped to the side but he knew the blow was weaker than it could have been. Junmyeon had tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he had just done. The rational part of his brain told him that the punch was weak and that it was better than one of the thugs beating Mark or Jongin but the other part was yelling at him for hitting one of his Dongsaengs. _You're supposed to protect them!_ His internal conversation was broken by Junwoo

"Again", Junmyeon, Jongin and Mark turned teary eyes to Junwoo

"What?"

"I said hit him again", Junwoo moved to Mark and raked a hand through his messy hair before yanking it pulling his head back, "Or should we continue this with Mark?"

"No!" Taeyong was loud, "Don't touch him". Taeyong turned to Junmyeon "It's okay as many times as he says, just don't let him touch Mark."

"Taeyong you don't know what you're asking me"

"Yes I do. I'm asking you to help me protect Mark. I know you would do the same for Jongin".

Junmyeon exhaled loudly before turning to Taeyong and cradling his face in his hands.

"Hyung is so sorry Taeyong-ah. If there was any other way.."

"But there isn't," Taeyong took Junmyeon's hands, "So it's okay I don't blame you"

Junwoo was not pleased. This was not how this was supposed to go. This was to break them apart not bring them together.

"Hurry up Junmyeon"

Junmyeon spared Junwoo one more glace before punching Taeyong again

"Again"

Junmyeon hesitated again but Taeyong was looking at him with such understanding completely free of blame. Taeyong nodded at him again and Junmyeon once again raised his fist.

"Again"

"Again"

"Again"

Soon the only sounds were Taeyong's laboured breathes

"Stop hitting his face, Stomach, Again"

There was blood running down Taeyong face again and the other idols were in tears. Mark and Jongin had been gagged to stop them making sound. Their cries to let the thugs beat them instead falling on deaf ears.

"Please don't make me do this"

"Again'

"Please he cant take it anymore"

"Should I give Mark to Jaehyun?

That got everyone's attention. Mark retreated as far as he could away from Junwoo. Jongin's eyes widened and he started struggling again before being cuffed around the head by one of the thugs.

"N-no, no you cant" Taeyong's words were pained but his look was determined.

"Then keep getting hit"

Taeyong turned once again to Junmyeon who was visibly shaking in anger. Mark was a _child_ did this man really intend to shatter that last barrier. Taeyong latched onto Junmyeon's arm,

"I don't care if it kills me. You don't let that man anywhere near Mark"

"Taeyong-ah"

"I mean it. I'll never forgive you if you let him be taken" Taeyong's words were cold and harsh shocking Junmyeon. But, he found he understood. Junwoo didn't understand why the kid was so willing to sacrifice himself but even if he couldn't break them apart the recording of this encounter would serve as enough of a warning to SM to keep them cooperating. Junwoo decided to just enjoy the pain he was causing.

"Again"

Junwoo closed the door on the distraught idols. "Upload the video to every fan site you can while being untraceable. Make sure you put the reason underneath. Tell SM to call off the witch-hunt if they don't want their boys to be even more damaged," he ordered Mr Smith and then turned on his heel and walked towards his office. Mr Smith stood holding the camera looking in at the young men on the floor. They were in tears. The oldest one was cradling the red haired one in his arms, whispering apology after apology, the red-head was out of it. He had lived up to his own words and it was only when the elder sent him into oblivion did Junwoo relent and leave. Mr Smith shook his head. He didn't get any pleasure out of all this. He owed Junwoo a favour and as soon as he could he was getting out of there. He never liked Junwoo but a favour's a favour. Smith walked back to the dark roomed that housed his equipment. The room was lit up by the screens of his many computers. One was running a location algorithm on the fan that found the kidnap footage the others were scrambling his IP among other connection networks. He sat down at his chair and quickly went to work uploading the footage unedited onto about 7 fan sites. By the time he was finished with the last one the footage had already been shared over 3000 times. Smith smiled and nodded his head content that the footage and corresponding warning would make its' way to the proper authorities. Smith then turned his attention to the location algorithm that had been running the last few hours. He estimated it would only be another few hours or so before he had the location of the computer that found the footage.

Meanwhile, the rest of NCT and EXO were pouring over the footage found by an anonymous fan with the police. They were able to identify Junwoo, Wonlee and Mr Smith. The police women smiled, this was the first solid lead that her department had had and everyone was relieved. The deadline for the ransom was fast approaching and as soon as the kidnappers found out that SM wasn't going to pay the chances of the kidnapped idols survival chances dropped drastically. The footage considerable lightened the mood of the idols room, they had a little bit more hope that they would be able to find their missing members. Some of the members were working with Police sketch artists to see if they could reconstruct the facial features of the kidnappers and pair that with the dark silhouettes in the footage. The Police were also running the make and model of the vans through every database possible and cross referencing it with people who had a criminal record or had ever been suspected. The rest of the idols were scrolling through the comments and letters sent in by fans from all over the world. Some were just offers of support, but every now and then a possible helpful thing would pop up and it was their job to sift through the millions of comments and find the helpful ones. Ten was scrolling through comments under his Vlive when he came across one that took him completely by surprise. It was by a anonymous writer, "Just leave them be. The world would be a much better place without them." Ten was shocked that someone would say such a terrible thing about his friends. He quickly became angry anf Jaehyun noticed.

"Whats up Ten?" Ten took a deep breathe before deleting the comment and moving on.

"It's nothing just some idiot saying we should leave our family to die". Ten spoke through gritted teeth. Jaehyun nodded in understanding. He had also found hate comments on his site and it left him feling sick. Luckily there were far more positive comment than there were negative. Plus, the fans were doing a pretty good job of shutting up the haters. Jeno and Junwoo were haring a laptop on one of the hospital beds and were scrolling through the comments on one of the lesser known blogs when a video file popped up. The file started instantly and Junwoo jaw dropped open. Jeno was shocked bu quickly shouted

"HYUNG!" The shout brought nearly everyone to the youngers side instantly. Junwoo had paused the video but it was clear what was going on. The still image showed their 4 missing members in a concrete room Mark and Jongin were restrained and Taeyong and Junmyeon were standing unaided. All 4 were covered in white bandages. Minseok gently took the laptop out of Jeno's lap. After the last video he definitely needed to check if everyone could watch this one. The managers were on the phone to the police already and it seems the video was showing up everywhere as fans and non fans alike shared the video.

"Taeil-ah, can you come with me please". Minseok asked the younger as it was his call on whether or not the others could watch it. The two of them were watched by 21 other sets of eyes as they walked out of the shared space. The mood in the room had dropped considerably and everyone decided to roll the beds together so tht they could at least be together until Taeil and Minseok came back. They ended up in what was probably the biggest cuddle pile the hospital had ever seen. Limbs where everywhere and it didn't seem to matter who was on who everyone as just taking and giving comfort to each other. In any other situation it would have been cute.

"Hyung your squishing meeeee"

"It's not me"

"I wasn't talking to you"

"Move"

"Ahh! Stop moving now im trapped"

"Stop it!"

"Ah!"

"What!"

"stop touching my butt"

"Leave off"

"Hyungggg help"

"Please!"

The once still pile slowly made its way into a wiggling mess as one thing lead to another until everyone was again settled and Sehun was told no more butt touching.

Minseok and Taeil watched the video in silence, flinching each time someone was struck. By the time the video ended Minseok had white knuckled and Taeil had made fingernail marks in his palms. Taeil turned to Minseok and asked the question "Do we let the others see hyung?"

Minseok sighed desperately wishing Junmyeon was here. He would know what to do. "I think we can show them, they will understand. They wont blame Junmyeon and maybe they'll see something we missed."

"Plus if we didn't they'd just find it online anyway" Taeil huffed. 'So agreed?"

"Yeah, lets go show them. But we'll forewarn them"

"Of course"

When Taeil and Minseok walked back into the room the cuddle pile was looking extremely inviting but they were quickly bombarded with questions.

"What happened?"

"Can you show us?"

"Are they okay?"

The others made room for the extra two in the middle of the beds and they quickly explained the situation.

"We'll show you the video but there is violence and you have to remember that none of this is their fault." Minseok received nods of affirmation and so he plugged the laptop into the TV again and pressed play. There was silence for the beginning until Junwoo made Junmyeon punch Taeyong. This was met with gasps of surprise

"no"

"no way"

As the video progressed and Junwoo threatened Mark with Jaeyong Minseok pressed pause.

"From here it is literally just torture, if you don't want to watch you can leave. We wont think any less of you." No one moved and Minseok sighed and pressed play again. With every punch the number of people flinching increased until Taeyong slipped unconscious into Junmyeon's crying arms.

There was only the sounds of muffled sobs as everyone took in what had happened. Lucas was the first to speak "How could someone be so cruel?"

Doyoung answered "I Don't know. I really don't."

"Play it again" everyone was taken aback eyes turning to Haechan who was disentangling himself from Baekhyun and Yixing.

"Play it again." Minseok was so stunned that he did as the younger asked.

"Stop" Minseok paused

Haechan smiled "I knew it"

"Knew what?" Chanyeol was exasperated.

Haechan just kept smiling, "watch Marks hands, he's using a code we made up back in trainee days. I have a clue."

Said Idol was currently sitting on the ground with Taeyong's head in his lap. He was slowly carding his fingers through his leader's red hair waiting for him to wake up. It had only been an hour since Junwoo and the English guy had left but to Mark it felt much longer. Junmyeon had long stopped crying after Jongin had taken him away and given him a stern talking to. Now he was just as nervous for Taeyong to wake up so he could no doubt apologise again. Jongin was pacing and had been for a considerable amount of time. Out of all of them he was surprisingly the most level-headed.

"ow"

The head in Mark's lap started to move leaving Mark momentarily stunned with wide eyes,

"Hyung?" Taeyong's head hurt, actually everything hurt but he was lying on something soft so he figured he must be on someone. He was making he rise to awareness slowly when the memories came crashing back. _Mark! What happened to Mark!_ Taeyong sat up almost hitting his head on said Mark and very quickly regretted it as the world spun in circles around him.

"Hey, hey take it slowly Taeyong-ah" Jongin gently spoke with the confused red head. Taeyong locked eyes on Mark and was relieved by the absence of any further injuries.

"Sorry" Taeyong rubbed the back of his head. Junmyeon quickly hushed him getting him to lie down again.

"Don't apologise, if anyone here should be sorry it's me."

"No." Taeyong was firm. "No, you did what you had to. We couldn't let Mark get taken away. That would have been the worst." Junmyeon nodded knowing that the young rapper wasn't going to change his mind but he knew that he may never forgive himself for what happened. He would spend the rest of his life trying to make sure it never happened again.

"Are you okay hyung?" Mark asked gently.

"Yeah, I guess"

Mark smiled, "So what you really mean is that everything hurts. Man if the other were here..Oh my gosh I totally forgot!" Taeyong winced at the loud words.

"Forgot What?" Jongin asked considerably quitter something Taeyong was glad for. Mark was getting excited so Taeyong transferred himself unto Junmyeon so the Maknae could move.

"I left a message for Haechan"

"What!" The cry came from 3 different mouths at the same time.

"How?" Junmyeon asked. Mark rubbed the back of his neck.

"I couldn't watch what was happening and so I let my mind drift and then I figured that they have to have this place on video and that they would probably use the footage as a warning. So I used this hand signal code me and Haechan made up ages ago to tell them where we are and a bunch of other stuff." Everyone was smiling and Mark felt kind of embarrassed. Then Jongin tackled him in a hug careful of both of their injuries.

"Mark you amazing person!" Everyone was incredibly happy it was as if Christmas came early. Now all they had to do was wait and hopefully Haechan would see the video and see the signals.

"What if they don't show the others the video?" Jongin asked and Taeyong had to laugh.

"if I know them there's no way they'd let the management hide this stuff from them and if they did they would probably just find it online anyway."

"True."

It was again getting dark which would mean that they had been in captivity for over 48 hours and the idols were getting tired so once again the used each other as pillows and heaters as the cold crept in. Huddling close to each other the four drifted off into dreamland with a lot more hope than they had last time.

"Clue? What do you mean!?" Sehun asked quickly. Haechan explained.

"I'll need to watch it a few more time but I got some of it, basically me and Mark made this code with our hands so we could talk in the boring meetings. I saw him doing it in the video the first time but I only noticed it at the end so I'll need to watch it again so I can write down the whole message. "

Everyone smiling, ecstatic that they had something. Jaehyun reset the video and Renjun got Haechan some pen and paper and the replayed the video. This difference was that this time everyone was watching Marks hands as they moved quickly in a complex sequence. Haechan was frantically scribbling words down and everyone was half watching him and half watching Mark. When the video finished everyone turned expectant eyes to Haechan who sat back with a huge smile.

"What did you get?" Taeil asked expectant and anxious.

"I got a location", there were gasps everywhere. Haechan quickly corrected himself. "Well I got most of a location it's an area rather than an address but it's better than what we had." Everyone was impatient and quickly motioned for Haechan to read out the message.

"It reads like this. 'I hope you remember this code. WE are near Suho's grandparents mill we can see it to the east. We are okay but everyone is hurt. Please come find us. There ar at least 8 of them here with us and they are armed. Be careful.' The end." Haechan put down the paper and sat back against Johnny. "That's it". Jisung jumped in the air

"YES!" He was quickly joined by the rest of them as they celebrated. Minseok quietly detached himself from the celebrations and led Haechan ou to find the managers and give them the good news. When they found them, the news was met with wide eyes and gasps. The paper was quickly taken out of their hands and passed along to the police who started constructing a possible locations grid. Minseok then finally called Junmyeon and Jongin's parent with the good news. They were ecstatic. They couldn't be with the rest of the boys as SM was keeping them on lockdown from everyone but the phone call left them with hope. Taeil did the same with Taeyong and Mark's parents. They were also extremely happy. Mark's mother started crying on the phone. After all that had been dealt with the boys once again found themselves alone in the hospital room. Doctors and nurses were doing their rounds on the EXO members and they were all given good news.

Then came another surprise. With the prospect of a rescue SM was apparently doubling up security on all their other major artists. The girls were all sent to Jeju Island. But both SHINee and Super Junior were coming to the hospital. This was met with happiness from the younger ones. They enjoyed spending times with their seniors. Even if the circumstances were less than desirable. There was a flurry of activity from the hospital staff as the room was rearranged to accommodate the extra people. Then they were left to wait. Again. On both their seniors and news on the location of their missing members.

As the safe members rejoiced things for those in danger were about to get 10 times worse. Junwoo had been reading comments underneath the video Mr Smith had posted earlier when one caught his attention.

"OMG Mark's using the hand signals him and Haechan made up in Trainee days! He must have left a message!"

"What the hell!" Junwoo quickly went back to the footage and became increasingly enraged as he found that yes the little brat had been leaving hand signals. He erupted out of his chair knocking it to the floor and yelled out to his men gathering them before storming to where the idols lay sleeping. He threw open the doors startling the sleeping idols.

"You just made a big mistake."

Taeyong was jolted awake by the door slamming open, as was everyone else. They were roughly manhandled upright before they could even understand what was happening. Junmyeon tried to ask what was going on but was swiftly shut up by a fist to the face. This caused alarm in Taeyongs mind. But what was much more alarming was the look of absolute rage on Junwoo's face.

"You just made a big mistake."

Everyone instantly knew what had happened. He must of found Mark's message. Everyone watched with absolute horro as Junwoo approached Mark and then struck him rapidly across his face Once. Twice. Three times.

"Stop! Please"

"Stop it"

"Get your hands off him please"

"It was my idea!" Taeyong's cry left his lips with such volume that it caught everyone by surprise. Breathing hard from struggling against the men holding him Taeyong repeated himself.

"It's my fault. I told him to do it." Junmyeon instantly knew what the younger leader was trying to do so he cut in instead.

"No, it was me. I planned it, it was my fault entirely." Suddenly everyone was taking the blame and it was only silenced by Junwoo shooting a hole in the ceiling. Everyone stilled.

"I don't care who planned it. I am going to punish all of you. But, poor Mark is getting punished because he did it." Junwoo was smiling. "You should have known better". With that Junwoo motioned his men and they started dragging both Taeyong and Mark out of the room. Mark who was stunned from the earlier blows was confused as to why Taeyong was getting taken as well,

"Why are you taking him? It was my fault leave him alone. Please!" Mark pleaded with Junwoo. This set the man off into laughter.

"Don't you see? You are all so dependent on each other. By hurting him", catching Taeyong's face in his hands, "I can hurt you more that I ever could otherwise." He let go of Taeyong and the men continued dragging him away. "But don't think that lets you off the hook". With that the men holding Mark stepped away and Junwoo lifted his gun. Jongin and Junmyeon increased struggling pushing against their captor, yelling and screaming. Then the gun went off and everything stilled.

Mark's eyes travelled down to his arm that was rapidly tuning red against his white shirt. He could hear everyone yelling, Taeyong the loudest but everything was going dark.

Then Mark crumpled to the floor.

The others were left staring at Marks prone form. Struggling and crying they tried to get to them. Taeyong was manhandled out of the room taking multiple blows before the men could move him. Junmyeon and Jongin fought against their captors but they were no match and found themselves on the floor with new bruises. Junwoo spoke to the men picking up Mark.

"Take him to the Doctor then put him in the cell opposite the other one." The men started dragging the unconscious boy away but Junwoo stopped them again.

"Oh and tell Jaeyong I'm in need of him"

Junwoo was furious. After the unconscious Mark and Taeyong had been dragged away he slammed the door behind himself. Mr Smith who had reappeared was waiting silently. Junwoo quickly ran through what the brat's actions meant for him. He had probably given a location so he would have to move. He addressed Mr Smith.

"How long would it take the police to get here?". They were a fair distance away, and they couldn't have given an exact location so Junwoo wanted to know how much time they had. Mr smith quickly ran some calculations. No doubt SWAT and hostage negotiations would have to be called in and there would probably be NIS involvement so,

"About 2 hours", Junwoo nodded he could work with that. He gave the order to start packing up and then readdressed Mr Smith.

"You have the girl who found your footage right?"

Mr Smith nodded an affirmative, it had been a young girl from New Zealand. He had taken a while to find her but one he had, he had had some of his associates pick her up and fly her here. She had arrived around an hour ago.

"Okay, bring her to this cell and set up a live feed, I'm going to give them a warning they won't forget."

Junmyeon and Jongin were left on the ground out of breath and in despair. Not only had their juniors been taken but Mark had been shot and that monster Jaeyong was on his way. They pulled themselves up and sat against the wall. All they wanted to do was break down the door and get their friends back but they couldn't. They stayed like that silent for around half an hour before Jongin asked quietly,

"What's going to happen to them?"

Junmyeon could only shake his head.

"I don't know. I really don't. But it won't be good."

It was then that the door was once again thrown open. They both hoped to see Mark or Taeyong but instead a young girl was thrown in. She must have been around 17. She was crying and had bruises adorning her face. She was yelling in English and Junmyeon and Jongin could only pick up bits. Other men flooded the cell and again restrained all three of the hostages and then they set up a camera. This scared Junmyeon because for all the other extra footage they had used CCTV. Then Junwoo walked in. Calm. That was downright terrifying. He walked over the Junmyeon and Jongin.

"This is the child who found that footage of you being kidnapped. She's your fan, why don't you say hello?"

The girl smiled and Junmyeon and Jongin who tried to apologise.

"I'm so sorry…"

She quickly shut them off.

"Not your fault. It's these monsters fault. Who dare they!" She started cussing and yelling Junwoo who was amused by the show. Mr Smith who was linking a laptop to the camera nodded to Junwoo. He cleared his voice and then started to speak.

"Hello everyone, this is a live feed so I'm sure that you are spreading this around quickly." Junmyeon and Jongin shared equally horrified looks with each other. They had an idea where this was going. Junwoo continued to speak. "As I'm sure you know by now, Mark has managed to get a message out to his precious bandmate and now I'm left in a bit of a situation. You see I can't kill him yet as I need him to make money. However, with me I have the brat who found that footage of the kidnapping and I'm sure she will serve as an adequate warning. If anyone interferes further there will be dire consequences." With that he finished. Junmyeon and Jongin had gone white as had the girl. Then they started struggling. Junwoo produced a small handgun and levelled it at the girl. Junmyeon and Jongin were yelling and screaming but Junwoo was steady. Then he tightened his finger on the trigger.

Back at the Hospital everything was in chaos. As soon as the video had gone live. They were alerted to it by the fans. There was no time to decide whether or not to let anyone watch it and everyone watched as Junwoo spoke. Their eyes fixed on their friends and the young stranger. As the stream continued everyone got more and more agitated, until they were audibly yelling at the screen. As Junwoo started to pull out the gun older the ones were quick to hide the younger ones in their chests. Shielding them from the terrible images being played in front of their eyes. They could hear the cries of Junmyeon and Jongin as they begged Junwoo to let her go and there were tears in the yes of everyone. The younger ones were sobbing into the chest of those holding them. Yixing's knuckles had turned white from how hard he was holding the chair. Taeil and WinWin had tears running down their face. Johnny was shielding Haechan while watching. Stoic. Much was the same with Kyungsoo and Jaehyun. Baekhyun was taken out of them room by Chanyeol and those with the dreamies went as well. By the time Junwoo was tightening his finger on the trigger only Kyungsoo, Johnny, Taeil, Minseok, Jongdae and Yixing were left. Then Junwoo pulled the trigger.

The girl's body fell. Lifeless. Junmyeon and Jongin couldn't speak, staring at the girl who had had an entire life ahead of her. They both had tear streaming down their face and that quickly turned to anger. Jongin lost it first. He ripped himself out of the holds of the men holding him with strength he didn't even know he had barrelling towards Junwoo who was smiling.

"WHY!" He punched the man straight in the nose smiling in satisfaction as he felt bones break. He was quickly beaten into submission but he was happy he could get some form of revenge for the girl whose blood was now staining the ground. Junmyeon was similar but was quickly restrained after Jongin broke lost. He too was yelling at the know bleeding leader.

"WHY! You didn't have to kill her!" Tears were streaming down the face of EXO's leader. Live for all the world to see.

There was silence in the hospital room. No one could move. Their hearts were heavy, weighed by the loss they had just witnessed. Suddenly Yixing stood and yelled before punching to wall closest to him actually leaving a dent. Kyungsoo was quick to restrain the other before he hurt himself. There were tears streaming down his face, down all of theirs in fact. When the feed went dead after focusing on Junmyeon's tear streaked face Minseok turned off the TV. Turing to the shell-shocked idols. The other quietly filed in and one look at the others tear streaked faces was enough to confirm their worst fears. Junwoo looked at Taeil

"Junmyeon-hyung and Taeyong-hyung?"

Taeil replied "Their fine, I think probably a bit more bruised Jongin attacked Junwoo". Junwoo nodded with bleared eyes. Everyone was quiet mourning the loss of a soul taken too soon. Minseok and Taeil were soon called to a meeting with the police and management. The left the boys on the couchs leaning on each other for support.

The meeting was both good and bad news. The good news was that they now knew where the kidnappers were. The bad news was that it was going to take at least another hour to get there. And based on the live stream it was likely that they wouldn't be there anymore. They nodded tiredly. All they wanted was their friends back was that really too much to ask? When they arrived back at the hospital the news was meet with blank stares and more tears. No one had the strength to move. So they stayed where they were, lying against each other hoping that the nightmare would soon be over.

Back with the kidnappers Taeyong was sitting on a steel framed bed when the door opened and a figure stepped in.

"Hello baby"

Mark woke alone. He was in a grey room with a curtain covering one of the walls. The first thing he noticed was the burning pain in his left arm. He glanced down to see it wrapped in white bandages but a dot of red showing through. It was then that he remembered, he had been shot! He groaned in pain lying against the cold concrete. He would have been content to continue lying on the ground if not for the distressed shout coming from beyond the curtain.

 _That sounded like Taeyong!_

Mark pushed himself to his feet as best he could. Arm spiking in pain. He stumbled to the red curtain pulling in away before instantly recoiling.

"No. No!" Mark quickly recovered and started pounding on the glass regardless of the pain he was causing himself. Beyond the class was Taeyong and that creep Jaeyong. He was leaning over the younger running cold hands over Taeyong's exposed chest again. Taeyong was trying to dislodge the older man but he was tied to the frame of the small bed he was on. Mark's yelling had obviously got their attention as Jaeyong turned to the glass and waved. Smiling. Mark had never been as scared as he was right now. He caught Taeyong's gaze and the older started yelling at him.

"Look away Mark! Don't watch. It's not your fault …mph!" He was quickly silenced by Jaeyong clamping a hand down on his throat. Jaeyong leaned down to Taeyong's ear talking just loud enough that Mark could hear.

"But it is his fault. This is his punishment for sending that message", Taeyong was choking and desperately trying to dislodge the other man's hands. Mark watched as Taeyong's struggles became less and less. He pounded against the glass.

"PLEASE! Stop! You're killing him!" Jaeyong just continued to smile as Taeyong's struggles got weaker and weaker and just as the rapper was about to fall into unconsciousness released his hand. Taeyong instantly coughed trying to refill his lungs with air. Mark could only breath in relief, relief that was not long lived. Jaeyong turned to Mark

"You are going to watch, if you turn away I will kill him" Mark felt tears come to his eyes as he nodded slowly. Jaeyong smiled, "Good". The other man returned his gaze to Taeyog who was still trying to catch his breath. He placed a hand on the younger's chest, slowly tracing the fading bruises.

"You know this is all his fault," Jaeyong started smirking, "If you want I could leave you alone and go visit him instead." Taeyong couldn't say that he didn't want to get the man as far away from him as possible but his desire to protect Mark won out.

"You lay a hand on him and I'll kill you" His voice was raspy and it hurt to speak but he was clear and firm. Jaeyong just smiled,

"I expected as much." Then he let his hands wander.

Mark could only watch from behind the glass, tears streaming down his face. He kept his gaze fixed on Taeyong's face and watched every miniscule facial expression. The few times his and Taeyong's eyes caught Mark only saw love and it just made him hurt even more. Taeyong's eyes were again tightly shut and Mark watched as a lone tear made its way down his face. Jaeyong saw it as well and moved back up to the idols face.

"Don't cry Taeyongie," he crooned reaching down to kiss the salty tear off. Taeyong shuddered away and Mark could barely watch. Mark could see that things were about to progress further and he didn't know if he could watch. Then Taeyong's cell door was thrown open. Mr Smith ran in

"We have to leave now, Cops are closer than we thought." Jaeyong was not pleased by the interruption,

"Fine just give me 5 minutes." He turned back to the prone idol. Mr Smith ran in and grabbed his shoulder pulling his off.

"No. We leave now, pick him up, grab the other one and take them to the car" Mark could only gasp in relief, Taeyong doing the same. Jaeyong begrudgingly agreed and fixed himself before reaching over to untie Taeyong.

"We'll have to finish this another time love", Taeyong shivered at the thought. Mark was watching glad that the man was no longer assaulting his leader. He watched Jaeyong pull Taeyong from the bed and pull him out the door. Mark realised that this meant he would be coming for him next. It also meant they were being moved and that the chances of them being found would go down dramatically. He quickly looked around the room for something he could use as a weapon and saw an old broom in the corner. He went a grabbed it, then he ran beside the door waiting for Jaeyong to come in. He heard the lock turn and tightened his grip on the broom. As Taeyong stumbled in Mark yelled

"Taeyong Drop!" Taeyong didn't know what was going on but he heard the urgency in Mark's voice and instantly dropped to his knees. Mark swung the broom handle and it caught Jaeyong right on the head dropping the larger man to his knees. Taeyong was completely surprised by the youngers actions. But was even more surprised by his next ones. Mark leaped forward and repeatedly slammed the broom handle on the older man's head. Jaeyong grunted in pain and surprise succumbing into unconsciousness. But even as the kidnapper fell unconscious Mark continued to hit the man with the broom. Mark was crying so hard, remembering everything this man had done to them. The kept hitting and hitting until he felt a pair of familiar arms encircle his.

"It's okay Mark," Taeyong spoke softly, "He's out of it, you can stop" He hugged the younger from behind. Mark let the broom fall from his limp hands and turned into Taeyong's bare chest.

"I'm so sorry" Mark sobbed into his chest and Taeyong held him for a moment before pulling away.

"I know, but right now we need to find the others and get the hell out of here." Mark nodded before realising that everything was spinning again.

"Taeyong?" mark once again found himself on the floor on top of Taeyong. The older had barely caught the younger as he fell.

"Mark!" The white bandages were quickly turning red and Taeyong realised that he must had torn his bullet wound open when he attacked Jaeyong. "It's okay Mark, I got you". Taeyong struggled to pull the mostly unresponsive teen onto his back and then moved out of the door. They were lucky that the base had been mostly evacuated. Taeyong had had the presence of mind to grad Jaeyong's keys so as he retraced his steps from earlier he found the room they had been held hostage in. He struggled to push the key on and open the heavy door and as soon as he did he collapsed into the room. Unable to keep holding both his and Mark's weight. The sight he was greeted with was not what he thought he would find. Junmyeon and Jongin were sitting either side of a body of a female, whose face had been covered by Jongin's shirt.

Junmyeon and Jongin were sitting shell shocked by the past events so when Taeyong literally fell into the room it took them a minute to respond.

"Taeyong!"

"Mark!"

The next thing they noticed was that they were alone.

"What happened!" Jongin quickly took Mark from Taeyong and the older quickly explained. Junmyeon then explained the situation with the girl. Taeyong was deeply saddened but realised that there would be time to grieve later, Junmyeon agreed. The EXO members were amazed by Mark's courage, congratulating the slightly more awake boy. Taeyong helped Mark climb onto Jongin's back, as he was the strongest of the 4 of them.

"What do we do about her?" Jongin asked sadly.

Junmyeon shook his head "We'll come back for her, she deserved better". Everyone nodded, quickly paying their respects before cautiously making their way out of the room. It was then they heard the first signs of alarm. Raised voices were shouting and they 4 idols sped up their pace trying to find an exit.

"There!" Junmyeon pointed to an unbarred window just above head height. Everyone made a beeline.

"How do we do this?" Taeyong asked. Junmyeon thought about it quickly,

"First Jongin should go through then we can pass Mark to him then you then me." Everyone nodded and so Jongin quickly pulled himself through. Then disaster struck a voice at the end of the hall running away calling for assistance

"I found them!" Junmyeon quickly looked at Taeyong who nodded, they passed Mark through to Jongin who had a hard time manoeuvring the rappers almost deadweight. Then Junmyeon spoke quickly.

"We'll all get caught if the chase us now. Taeyong go with them and hide somewhere. The police will be here soon. I'll try draw them away and escape a different way" Taeyong shook his head. "No. That won't work you know that. The best chance Jongin-hyung has to get Mark to safety is if you and I draw them away in separate directions so that they can't search for Jongin and Mark until it's too late." Junmyeon wasn't happy about the new plan but he knew Taeyong was right.

"Okay"

Taeyong pulled himself up to the window with Junmyeon's assistance to speak to Jongin, "Please keep him safe", Jongin nodded and Taeyong spoke to Mark, "I love you, and remember that this is not your fault". Mark could only just understand what was going on and he wasn't happy about the decisions but he lacked the strength to do anything about it. Junmyeon exchanged words with Jongin

"Come find us, I believe in you" Jongin nodded tears falling. Then he picked up Mark and started looking for somewhere to hide.

Taeyong and Junmyeon nodded to one another before setting off in separate directions. They could hear the sounds of the men following them and they could only hope they hadn't followed Jongin and Mark.

Junmyeon was running through winding corridors being chased by about 4 men. He was running around a corner when his hair was grabbed by someone in one of the doorways. The face he was greeted with was bloody and bruised and his eyes were murderous.

At the hospital things were moving quickly, the police had set off on the raid the hopefully catch the kidnappers and find their missing friends but there was little hope in the air. The police had set up a radio so that the idols could hear what was going on. Everyone was crowded around the small device. Silent.

Then there was a knock at the door, the door slowly opened and a familiar face peered through

"Taemin-hyung!" Jisung was happy to see his dancer friend. Everyone stood up and greeted everyone else as SHINee and Super Junior made their way into the pretty full room. There were handshakes and hugs and then there was the retelling of the story. Both SHINee and Super Junior had seen the footage on the news and they expressed their concern for both those kidnapped and those who were left behind. Soon after everything had been recapped everyone returned to sitting around the radio, the police were 20 minutes out and everyone was nervous. Praying that by some miracle they would get their friends back today.

As soon as Jongin had taken off with Mark he had started looking for a place to hide. The re they were in must have been a farm at some point as there were barns and sheds all over the place. Jongin took off towards the nearest one. His charge on his back was slipping in and out of consciousness and Jongin tried to keep him awake by talking to him but nothing really seemed to be working. Jongin slipped into the old wooden structure and saw a stack of old hay bales to hide behind. He, as gently as he could, lowered Mark to the ground behind the stack and quickly rearranged the bales so they couldn't be seen. Mark groaned in pain and Jongin returned to the youngers side.

"Mark-ah, can you hear me?"

Mark groaned in response shifting his weight slightly. The younger man was getting sweaty and hot and Jongin was certain he had infected his bullet wound.

"Hang in there Mark, the police will be here soon. Then we can fix you up"

Mark mumbled something that Jongin couldn't quite catch,

"What was that Mark?"

"We can't leave Taeyong-hyung, he'll kill him" Then mark slipped back into the dark leaving a very confused and distressed Jongin behind.

Taeyong was running. He knew that there were people behind him but he was going to do his best to escape as well. He ducked into one of the side rooms and waited for the pounding footsteps to pass. Then he quietly slipped out of the room and went back the way he had come. He found himself at what looked to be the front door but as he reached for the handle a chilling voice stopped him.

"If you don't want me to kill him, you'll stay exactly where you are love". Taeyong froze hand brushing the doorknob, freedom so close. Then he let his hand drop.

"Good. Turn around"

Taeyong did as he was told and gasped in horror

"Junmyeon-hyung!",

They older idol was being held up by two men, face a mess or blood and bruises. Taeyong couldn't even tell if he was awake.

"What did you do?" Taeyong whispered horrified by the state of his hyung. Jaeyong stared at the skinny youth,

"I repaid him for the lovely set of bruises your friend gave me. You know an eye for an eye. In fact, I'd love to be able to repay him in person" Jaeyong stepped up into Taeyong's personal space.

"So, where is he?"

"I don't know" _crack_ Taeyong's head flew to the side with the force of the punch. Then he felt hands at his neck pushing him into the wall and up putting him on his tiptoes. Hands scrambled to find purchases and to relieve the building pressure on his airway.

"I am not in the mood for games love. Where is the brat?!" Jaeyong shouted the last part into Taeyong's face. Spit flying everywhere. Taeyong gasped for breath trying to speak but unable to. He could see black spots covering his vision and he was certain he was about to die. Then everything went black.

"JAEYONG!"

The shout startled the livid man and caused him to drop the unconscious idol.

"Goddamn it you idiot. I dearly hope you haven't killed him. " Junwoo knelt down by the idol and checked his breathing. He was in fact breathing and Junwoo sighed in relief. Then he stood up and punched Jaeyong across his already bruised face.

"You idiot. What would you have done if you ha killed him? Huh! We need them alive for now!"

Junwoo was livid. Everything was falling out of place. He ran a greasy hand through equally greasy hair.

"Okay, take them both to the van and go to the Han river location. Do not touch them further. "Jaeyong nodded nursing an aching jaw. Then he picked up Taeyong and motioned for the other men to follow with Junmyeon. Junwoo watched the other man leave before following them. None of his men had found Mark or Jongin and the police were too close. Junwoo sighed as he got into his vehicle. The loss of the two brats was annoying but was also easily rectified. Up until now this had been his solo operation, but these idols had caused him enough trouble to make it personal. As they drove away from the hideout heading back to the Han River Junwoo started making some calls. The first one was to Woojin, current controller as the best underground black ops team. Who coincidentally owed him a favour.

"I need you to get some people for me."

The atmosphere was well tense would be an understatement. The police had arrived at the location and were starting the sweep of the main building.

"A Team entering left side,

B Team entering left"

Everyone was waiting with bated breath, more calls came through the radio with every room that was cleared. Taeil was holding Minho's hand without even realising it. The older looking down with a fond expression before returning attention back to the scanner. With every 'all clear' that came through the radio the hearts in the crowded hospital ward grew heavier. When the call came through that they had found a body everyone gasped. Terrified that it would be one of their own. As sad as they were to admit when the body was identified as female everyone let out a sigh of relief, almost simultaneously mourning the loss of one of their fans. It didn't help when the main building was completely cleared. Chenle turned away with tears in his eyes.

"We lost them again didn't we." Renjun was soft spoken, heart gripped with sadness. There was no response no one wanting to acknowledge the probably, painful truth.

"Movement outside." The call turned heads. Who was it?

"Put your hands on your head and identify yourself"

The next voice was raspy and quiet but just audible

"My name is Kim Jongin and I need help"

When the police sirens could be heard Jongin started to drag himself up. He tapped Mark trying to wake the younger but ultimately failing. The lack of sleep, injuries and infection getting to the younger. Jongin ran a hand through his unwashed hair deciding what to do. He could hear the police sweeping the property so he figured the other men were long gone. Jongin tried to pick the limp rapper up himself but his what he was hoping were bruised but were probably cracked ribs wouldn't let him and he fell to his knees. He huffed in frustration. He quickly came to the decision that he would have to leave the younger here and go and find help and bring them back. He pushed himself to to his feet and using the wall for support pushed the hay bales he had constructed as a fort away. Then he stumbled towards the door blinking in the bright sunlight. He had only taken a few steps when he heard the tell-tale clicks of guns.

"Put your hands on your head and identify yourself"

He mustered as much of a voice as he could, a voice that was raspy but audible

"My name is Kim Jongin and I need help"

Upon confirmation of his name the dark clad police were quick to rush to his aid. He shrugged of hands as they tried to pull him away.

"Wait!"

His cry stopped the urgent police

"Mark is in there as well, he's been shot" Jongin pointed towards the barn and a group split off with a medical team to the room. Jongin refused to let anyone touch him until he saw the younger rapper being carried out on the white stretcher. He painfully made his way over to the younger and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's okay now, you're safe."

Then Jongin collapsed unconscious into the surprised arms of the police.

In the hospital room there were cries of jubilation that were quickly hushed by the older ones still listening to the radio chatter.

"Left section clear

Medical team required Right Section

Second Hostage found"

Well if that didn't set them off

"Rescued hostages confirmed Mark Lee and Kim Jongin. Lee patient code 1 UNGW. Kim Patient code 2

Wait!

Scratch that Patient Code 1 UN

Proceed to nearest hospital

Section cleared there's no one else here"

The room was silent before erupting into cheers that quickly tapered off.

Ten asked the next question

"Did anyone understand the patient codes?"

Leetuk nodded "At least I think so. UN is code for unconscious and GW I'm certain means Gun Shot Wound", he was grave when he spoke and colour quickly drained out of the faces of all present

"G-gun shot?" Junwoo's voice shook at the noise. Leetuk nodded

"And what of Junmyeon-hyung and Taeyong?" Sehun asked. No one had an answer

Minseok spoke next, "Let's not dwell on what we don't know but rather on what we do. We have two of our brothers back that has to count for something."

Everyone nodded

"We'll get the others back too"

Woojin sighed, one of the leaders of the Korean underworld sighed. He was looking over what Junwoo had asked of him for what seemed the millionth time. Running a hand over his face he looked over what his men had collected. If it had been anything else Woojin would have been jumping for joy for being able to pay of his debt to the gangster but this was almost too much.

"Children, they're children" He scanned each of the profiles given to him. Junwoo had explained the situation to him and why all of a sudden it was so personal. If you asked Woojin Junwoo was suffering from two things. The first was that his place at the head of the underworld was in question at the moment and the other man was no doubt stressed by that and two, he had been bested by for all intents and purposes Children the youngest only 18. This of course was not helping his reputation at all. IN that sense what the criminal was planning was smart for if it was successful it would be remembered for years and would cement his place in the underworld as top. But Woojin couldn't help the involuntary shudder running through him. This seemed overly excessive. Woojin's men were the best but there would have to be at least 3 different teams to pull this all off. ON top of that Woojin felt like he was betraying himself. As much as he could he had always tried to avoid bringing children into his work. He had a younger sister and she knew nothing of her older brother's line of work. The youngest of this group was seventeen…no sixteen! Ultimately Woojin knew his conscious would take the last place in his mind. He needed to pay off his debt to Junwoo and he couldn't risk the consequences if he didn't do as the man asked. Especially is his aggravated state at the moment. He pressed the buzzer on his desk calling his team from where they had been waiting outside his office. He laid the profiles on the desk before interlacing his fingers and sitting back.

"So here's the mission"

Junwoo smiled, he had just gotten confirmation that Woojin had set everything in place for what he wanted. After his latest blunder he couldn't offered this to fail, which was why he had used one of his most valuable favours.

Their Han river hideout was finished being re setup they had stopped using it because the cops had been getting too close but now they had no choice but to return and so Junwoo was making sure that there was no way they could be found.

Mr Smith could be seen setting up the necessary cyber protection and Jaeyong now bandaged up and healing was directing the security teams with the help of Wonlee. Junwoo was concerned about the mental state of Jaeyong. The man had always been unbalanced but this last mission had made him even more so. The leader decided to keep the man occupied with other tasks for now until or unless someone did something to piss him off. Then he turned his eyes to the security screens to his left. The one in the middle showing the kidnapped idols. After the younger one's close brush with death by strangulation he had remained unconscious for the journey to the hideout as had the elder. Junwoo could see that they were both beginning to show signs of waking up but he predicted it would be another hour before they did. Junwoo also realised he couldn't do too much more physical damage to the two before they lost their worth. That was part of the reason he needed to use Woojin now. He simply couldn't afford to hurt the idol in their state. That would soon be rectified though and Junwoo allowed himself to smile. The news had been non-stop airing about the kidnapping the most recent posts about the escape an rescue of Jongin and Mark and that had dampened his mood considerably but now that plans were again in motion Junwoo allowed himself to feel good.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The constant beeping slowly pulled Jongin from his slumber. The dancer pushing himself further into the comfortable warm bed…bed? Warm? Jongin woke with a start he was not supposed to be in comfort! The dancer sprung upwards nearly crashing his forward into an extremely surprised Chanyeol who yelled in surprise drawing the attention of the two others in the room. Yixing had been asleep in one of the chairs and quickly stood up and walked to the dancers bed. Kyungsoo had been sitting by his bedside as quickly spoke in soft tones to the terrified man.

"You're okay Jongin. You're safe. You're in the hospital with us. You're safe" Kyungsoo reached over in an unusual act and pulled the younger into his chest whispering assurances. Jongin was still and drank in the scent of the other man finally feeling safe for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Kyungsoo was safe. Hospitals were safe. He was safe. All the memories were back but Jongin felt safe. He pulled away slowly from Kyungsoo quietly assuring everyone that he was alright.

"What about Mark? Is he okay? Oh God please tell me he's okay!" That was the next thing he asked instantly anxious again. Moving to get out off the bed he was in Jongin attempted to push himself up and go searching for Mark. After the initial surprise Chanyeol placed his hands on the others shoulders gently pushing him onto the bed. Yixing quickly shushed Jongin,

"He's fine. You did fine. He's safe here too. He is still unconscious but the doctors patched him up fine. He should wake up soon" Jongin breathed a sigh of relief. Just knowing the younger rapper was okay and in good hands felt like the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. He sent a quick prayer to the still lost idols.

"I kept him safe. We got away and now we'll find you"

Not too far away as if they had heard Jongin's prayer two very sore bodies were beginning their awakening into their new world.

"Welcome back boys, I trust you rested well."

Junmyeon could hear talking. He was slowly making his rise into awareness and was severely regretting the choice. Everything hurt. His face felt like someone had run over it with a motorcycle. Everything on his face hurt and the skin felt tight in place which probably meant there was swelling. Everything in his head was a jumble and he was getting really sick of waking up disorientated. By this point he was 99% certain that he must have a concussion by this point. The talking was getting louder and Junmyeon forced his sore body to wake up. He blinked in the bright lights of the room tightly shutting them again as the light sent waves of pain through his skull.

"Welcome Back boys, I trust you rested well."

That had Junmyeon's eyes open in an instant. Did Jongin and Mark get caught? What of Taeyong? Junmyeon could only remember meeting with Jaeyong's fist more times than he could count in the hallway and then nothing. Black. Did anyone manage to escape?" Junmyeon forced his eyes open, he probably had a black eye by the way the swollen skin protested being opened. When he managed to open his eyes first he saw the ground of the room they were now in. The floor was a dark wood. Then he dragged his eyes away from the floor and upwards to where Junwoo was smiling. Then he looked around the room to the last person in the room. Taeyong was lying limp on the ground about a meter away from Junmyeon and he had a thick circle of bruises around his throat. It was only the steady rise and fall of his chest that convinced Junmyeon the younger rapper was even alive his figure completely still otherwise. The lack of other people in the room made Junmyeon's hopes soar. Jongin and Mark must have escaped. A slow smile spread over his face. Junwoo noted the smile and crouched down to the injured man's level.

"I see you've noticed we're missing a few people. I wouldn't worry too much you won't be lonely for long." Junwoo laughed and Junmyeon felt a pit in his stomach.

"What do you mean?" Damn his voice sounded weak and raspy. Junwoo kept laughing and it scared Junmyeon the man was clearly a bit loose.

"Well I had planned to just involve you four but then your friends went and involved your fans and then they caused problems and now you have caused me problems and that is not what I wanted. So, I've decided to send a message. This isn't about a ransom anymore. You kids made me look like an idiot. Not a good position for a mob boss to be in. So, I plan on bringing you s few friends and giving everyone a message they won't forget."

This shook Junmyeon to the core.

"In fairness you look like an idiot even without our help" Junmyeon's head whipped to his left where a groggy and out of it Taeyong was slowly waking up. Junmyeon was totally prepared for Junwoo to go off the hook. But something else happened. He laughed. The sound was grating on Taeyong's head as he slowly made his way into the land of the living.

Junwoo smirked after his laughter had died down, "I see way Jaeyong like you so much. Maybe I should let him have you after all this." That sent fear straight down Taeyong's body waking him up entirely. The idea of being trapped with that man was too much to handle. He would rather die.

"Or not" Junwoo shrugged. "I am glad to see no permanent damage was done to the two of you you'll need to be up to greet your guests later." With that Junwoo spun on his heel and walked out of the room, door locking behind him.

Junmyeon and Taeyong were silent for a minute before the younger spoke,

"Mark and Jongin-hyung did they get away?" Junmyeon smiled

"Yeah they did" Taeyong sagged in relief and Junmyeon shared the sentiment. Both were extremely happy and relieved that the others managed to escape and hopefully help the police find them as well.

"But what do you think they meant about guests?" Taeyong asked and Junmyeon replied slowly.

"I don't know but he said he was sending a message so whatever it is it cant be good." Taeyong nodded dragging himself over to the EXO leader. They sat in silence for a second before Taeyong spoke again

"He was going to rape me in front of Mark." Junmyeon turned to the younger leader who had tears glistening in his eyes .

"He was making Mark watch and if he didn't he said he'd kill me. If we hadn't been taken away I don't know what I would've done." Taeyong had tears running down his face as he recounted the horrors of that moment. Junmyeon couldn't believe what the younger had gone through and slowly pulled the younger into a hug making sure the other was okay with the physical contact. Taeyong let himself crumble into the elders embrace. He didn't need to be strong for anyone anymore and he let all the pain and fear come out at once. Junmyeon held onto the younger as tears fell from his cheeks, rubbing soothing circles into his back whispering quiet affirmations. Eventually Taeyong ran out of tears and fall asleep against Junmyeon. The position was slightly painful for Junmyeon but he had no intention on moving. Eventually he too was lulled into sleep by the watching the rhythmic fall of Taeyong's chest.

Elsewhere someone else was waking up. Mark woke to the smell of antiseptic and the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor.

"Mark?" Mark heard his voice being called and there was a distinct lack of the pain he had grown accustomed to over the last few days. He slowly open his eyes to a half lit hospital room and the concerned faces of Taeil, Haechan, Johnny and Jongin.

"Hey Mark, nice to have you back."

It took a while to organise Woojin's men into the appropriate team. Two of the targets were an easy find but the other two were definitely going to be a slight issue. Woojin ran a hand through his hair again for what seemed like the millionth time. Once this op was over he was taking a well-deserved holiday.

"Are we set yet?" He asked his S.I.C. The man nodded yes,

"We assembled the last team a few minutes ago as soon as you give the order we can proceed. Woojin smiled happy that this would soon be over.

"Okay. We'll wait for the cover of night and then move. That's about an hour and a half away. Make sure everyone is ready."

When Mark finally woke there was a flurry of activity. There were doctors, police, tests, questions and quiet assurances. It was all a bit much for Mark who was feeling rather overwhelmed by everything. Everyone seemed to realise this and the doctors quickly finished up the important tests and postponed the police interview. This left Mark alone with just his family. Mark was grateful and finally managed to comprehend everything that had gone down. Everything after being passed out of the window was blurry and all he could really recall was emotions. Wild. Painful. Raw emotions. He remembered anger, loss, loneliness and worst of all mind-numbing fear. Somewhere in the midst of his recall Mark slipped into a panic attack. His breaths came in panicked gasped and the voices around his faded and jumbled together. Then all the voices cut out. Mark squeezed his eyes shut trying to block out the onslaught of emotions. He felt a hand grasp his own the hand placed his own a broad chest and he could feel the steady rise and fall of the others chest. Behind him he could feel another body and another set of breaths that matched those under his hand. Rising and falling at the same pace. Then a singular voice started speaking,

"Can you feel our breaths Mark? Try and copy them okay. Can you do that for hyung? The voice was quiet and soothing, it was a voice he had heard a lot recently. He tried his breaths to follow the instructions. He struggled at the beginning his breaths coming out to fast to match the slower rhythm but with steady encouragement from two separate quiet soothing voices he slowly managed to match their rhythm. He didn't know how long he stayed like that. Just breathing. Someone held his other hand rubbing soothing circles. Soon the surging emotions faded away and he was left feeling incredibly drained. He sagged back into the body behind him the person catching him in familiar strong arms. Mark slowly opened his eyes to the concerned gazes of Haechan, Jongin, Taeil and Jaehyun. He glanced behind him into the comforting gaze of Johnny.

"Hey Mark." Jongin spoke slowly releasing his hold on Marks hand pressed solidly to his chest. Haechan smiled at Mark. Face lighting up like the sun.

"Are you okay now?" Mark slowly looked around himself realising that yes he was in fact okay. He told the others as much and they let out relieved sighs. Jongin quietly moved off the bed and Haechan quickly occupied the space.

"I'll go let the others know you are okay." Mark nodded in response. He remembered that there had been a lot more people in his room before his panic attack they must have been kicked out. He laughed at that. His laughter filled the room and raised the mood of everyone. Soon Mark was engulfed by a smiling Haechan, then Taeil, and then Jaehyun forming a group hug. Well kind off at least. Everyone was extremely careful of Mark's injuries.

Outside the door Jongin was explaining to the rest of NCT what had gone down. He warned them against asking about what happened to him. Then he was asked a surprising question

"Where did you learn to deal with a panic attack?" The question caught off guard and he rubbed the back of his neck. He thought about it before responding

"As an idol there are so many things that stress and worry us and sometimes its too much. In EXO every single one of us deals with this in different ways but most of us at some point have had a panic attack or something similar." Jongin sighed, "I learned by watching. The first time one of us had a panic attack none of knew what to do except Yixing. He did something similar to what I just did. From that point on Junmyeon-hyung made sure we all knew a range of techniques for how to deal with stress or how to deal with Panic attacks. Then it was just practise. What you saw is what we found works best." Jongin finished quietly and then turned away from the younger idols before speaking over his shoulder,

"But don't dwell on it too much I'm pretty sure that there is someone in that room who can't wait to see his brothers." This set off a stampede as everyone turned towards the door. They almost threw open the door stumbling through before they were quickly shushed by a smiling Taeil.

"He's fallen asleep so keep it down okay?" They nodded filing into the room much quieter. They ended up in a circle around the room. Mark was were he was before Jongin left carefully cradled in Johnny's arms, hands held by Haechan. The brunette was sleeping softly. Everyone cooed at the cute sight. Taeil let everyone stay for a while before deciding that they couldn't all stay in the one room.

"We need rest as well. So how about this 12 of us go back to the other room and we can swap around every 8 hours so everyone gets some sleep?" There were some less than impressed looks but everyone agreed. Johnny, Haechan, WinWin and Renjun ended up being the first 4 to stay and the others slowly left, each leader Mark with a kiss or touch of some kind. Soon the room was quiet again.

Across the hall Jongin was getting told off for moving so soon.

"You literally have cracked ribs and only just woke up?" Taemin was exasperated. When he had heard that Jongin had been taken he literally felt physical pain. The other dancer was one of his best friends and he couldn't bear the idea of losing him. So, when he heard that he had been rescued he had been overjoyed. Then the idiot starts moving around with cracked ribs! He loved the dancer truly but sometimes the things he did were beyond his understanding. Jongin smiled sheepishly

"I had to check he was okay. He actually ended up having a panic attack hyung" This explained a lot. The other idols were well acquainted with Panic attacks and they realised that it was really good that Mark had Jongin there when it happened. The chatter turned towards lighter topics. Jongin was extremely happy to see everyone again and told them as much. This resulted it a group cuddle pile that left Jongin slightly out of breath but feeling extremely loved. The night grew darker as time progressed and the doctors finally ordered most of the EXO members out of the room. Permitting Taemin and Sehun to stay. The others slowly shuffled out promising to return soon. The went back to their shared ward and were reunited with the 12 members of NCT, SHINee and Super Junior who quickly asked after the two rescuee's. SHINee and Super Junior had opted to leave the reunions to the idols respective groups for the time being, they would go and see them tomorrow. Everyone fell into bed. It ad been a long day and tomorrow was likely to be just as long as the rescue continued.

Across Seoul another group was stumbling into their dorm. With the recent Kidnapping every move the group made had been surrounded by guards and staff and they had barely had a moment to themselves even as they rehearsed. Now safe in the confines of their dorm with a body guard at the entrance the members of SEVENTEEN could finally unwind. Some headed straight to showers like Soonyoung who had burst through the door loudly declaring that the shower was his first only to be cut off as Woozi stopped the other leader by quietly declaring that no the shower was his first before slamming the door in Soonyoung's face. This caused other members to burst out laughing. Dino and Jeonghan clutching their stomachs in laughter. Others opted to head straight to bed like Wonwoo, Joshua and Seungkwan. The rest milled around doing this and that slowly getting through the showers and heading to bed Seungcheol ended up watching television with Jun and Mingyu. By 12 almost everyone was asleep except Jun who was intent on finding out if the second lead was going to get the girl or not. As such he was the only one who heard the heavy drop from outside their dorm door. The sound was muffled and Jun dismissed it, at least he did until he heard the lock tur on the front door. Figuring it was one of the managers come to check on them he got up to warn him that everyone was asleep. However, instead of being met with a smiling manager he was greeted with a black mask and black gun.

"No"

Back at the hospital everything was quiet. The police set up for security had seen nothing since the boys were brought in and were doubtful anything was going to happen. The first sign of trouble was when a few of the perimeter guards didn't check in. That should have sounded the alarm unfortunately a team of highly trained men were sweeping into the facility quietly and efficiently taking out the meagre protective detail and swapping into their uniforms. The team quickly made its way into the ward where over 30 of SM's idols currently resided. The team knew exactly who they were here for and quickly injected both with a liquid sedative to ensure they didn't wake. They were then placed into wheelchairs and then they started wheeling them out. Just as the men were about to escape with both idols a groggy voice spoke out.

"Where are you taking them?" Renjun was tired and the men were in police uniforms but even in his tired state he knew something wasn't right. Why were the police taking them away? One of the men quietly cursed before running back to the younger boy who skidded back in fear opening his mouth to cry out for help. The man grasped his face hard stopped him from emitting a sound. Renjun's scared eyes looked into his attackers dark and felt a shiver run down his side. Then there was a harsh pain on the side of his head and everything went dark.

Across town Jiyong was settling into his room when there was a knock at the door

"I swear if that's one of the managers checking that I haven't been kidnapped again im going to start sleeping at the studio." He trudged down the steps of his home and moved to check the security feed. To his surprise the feed was completely dark. Then he realised his front door was slightly ajar. The last thing he felt was slight pinch the back of his neck and a cold fire running down his back.

"Shi…"

Jun's eyes went wide and he stumbled backwards.

"Wha..", the man in black raised his finger to his lips signally quiet to the Chinese native the other two men with him quickly secured the room. Mingyu and Seungcheol were still sleeping soundly. The man spoke quietly,

"You're going to wake you leader and if you do anything I don't like I'll put a bullet in the tall one" Jun nodded his head frantically, his tired mind scrambling for a semblance of a plan. He gently shook the shoulder of the tired leader gently rousing him.

"Hyung, you need to wake up." Jun could feel metal poking in the back of h shea and he went completely still. Seungcheol was groggy and wasn't particularly pleased at being woken,

"Jun what is it?" He mumbled sleepily pushing at the shaking hands.

"H-hyung." Jun voice was shaking that alone was enough to worry the older he pushed his eyes open and his mind went from 0 to 100 real quick. Jun was on his knees beside him and there was a masked man behind him holding the business end of a gun to the back of his head.

"What?" Seungcheol gathered the other behind him pulling him from the floor so he was standing in front of 1 of the 3 men currently invading their home. Seungcheol quickly got the message that his silence was prerequisite for their continued breathing. Then the unthinkable happened Mingyu started to rouse. This caused a stir with the other men and one raised his weapon as if the club the visual with it but Seungcheol caught his arm.

"Wait."

The man stared at the idols grasp on his arm with incredulity. Seungcheol quickly released the arm realsing what he had done.

"Wait. Let me settle him again." Seungcheol looked at the man who had been holding the gun to Jun's head for permission. The man considered it for a moment before nodding Seungcheol dropped to his knees beside Mingyu who was slowly waking. He carded his hand through the others hair and started talking softly encouraging the larger man to fall asleep. Mingyu apparently didn't need much encouragement and fell asleep quickly. As soon as Seungcheol was sure he was asleep he rose again only to be grabbed by the neck by the man who he had stopped from hitting Mingyu.

"No more funny business." He shook the rapper harshly and Seungcheol nodded. The gun wielder then seemed to receive a phone call or something and cursed lowly under his breath.

"The producer kid wasn't at the studio like he was supposed to be."

Jun gasped softly they could literally only mean one person. Woozi usually stayed behind to work on the music but Soonyoung had worked the group unusually hard at their last dance rehearsal and the small man had forgone his usual plans in favour for a shower and sleep. Two of the had a quick conference before nodding at each other.

"We'll just take these ones instead" Then both men felt pricks at the backs of their necks and quickly fell into the dark. The masked men caught the idols before they could hit the ground and pulled them over their shoulders. Quickly retracing their steps to the van they came in. They had no need to hide their presence as the whole point of the operation was to leave a message. Driving away quickly the van met up with another smaller vehicle and another unconscious man was transferred into the larger van which then turned to the Han river.

Jeno had had a bad dream and had woken up in a cold sweat. He slipped his feet out of bed and started towards the door of the bathroom. At least that was the plan, he tripped over something and ended up on the floor emitting a low grunt of pain as elbows met with the hard ground. He turned to see what he had tripped over only to do a double take when he realised it wasn't a something he had tripped over but rather a someone.

"Renjun-hyung?" Said boy was unresponsive and Jeno would have thought that the boy had simply fallen out of bed if not for the small tickle of blood running down his face.

"Hyung!" Jeno cry woke everyone instantly. Kun and Yuta were the first up and were by Jeno's side in an instant. Jeno was cradling the Chinese boys head in his arms. Kun did a double take to see blood running down the side of his head. Chen saw the blood and instantly ran for a doctor almost running over the unconscious guards.

"Oh my god. The guards are all out of it!" Chen yelled back inside before running after a doctor. Everyone was shaken by the news and this was when Renjun decided to open his eyes blearily looking up at a multitude of blurry faces before closing his eyes again. He slipped into the dark again but not before leaving one chilling sentence.

"They took them." Everyone was instantly looking around for who was missing. Taemin and Yixing were with Jongin and Taeil, Johnny, Haechan and WinWin were with Mark. All of SJ and SHINee were here so that left only….

"Oh my God. They took Jisung and Minseok."

The police were instantly called and people were shouting and running everywhere. SM couldn't believe the police had lost two more their people while under their watch. That was when the next call came in. Dino had come into the kitchen to find a drink of water only to find a very confused Mingyu who had sworn Seungcheol had fallen asleep with him. The two then looked through the respective dorms to find both Jun and Seungcheol missing. The had opened the door only to be met with the limp form of their supposed bodyguard. The police were quickly called. Said police were having their heads done in by the mass co-ordinated kidnappings. Every agency was woken by the sound of the police calling them to check on their idols. That's how they found out GD was missing. His manager had gone to his home only to find the door ajar and Jiyong gone. With now 4 groups involved the police and NIS made an executive decision. Any group that fit into the current profile were to be taken to the NIS headquarter where they would be under complete protective detail. This included Monsta X, GOT7, NCT, EXO, BIG BANG, BTS, SHINee, Super Junior, VIXX, ASTRO and Infinite. The NIS weren't playing any more games and weren't taking any more chances. The kidnapping was taken from police jurisdiction and placed in NIS control. When Mark and Jongin found out what had happened both were sent into tears. They knew what it was like and it wasn't something they had wanted anyone else to have to experience. Everyone had thought that the nightmare was ending when really it was only just getting started.

The police chief who had been in charge of the rescue operation was getting an earful from the NIS head. How on earth did this man allow for not only the Idols to be taken in the first place but let more of them be taken from his protective detail!? The police chief barely left that room with a job. The new head of operation was a Kim Lee Suk. Lee Suk couldn't decide if it was the terrible police handling of the operation or the genius of the who organised the kidnapping that let this happening. Regardless he was now tasked with the job of finding all the kidnapped idols preferably alive and in as good condition as possible. The first thing he did was contact the cyber division. The videos online had to have come from somewhere and everything leaves a trace. He wanted it found. If the people who sent the videos were still using the same laptop they could track it's location. The next thing he did was call in all handlers of undercover operative in Seoul. He had them convey to their men what the situation was and see if anyone had heard anything. Lastly, he was left with the mess of organising where to put over 50 idols. For the most part they had all been extremely cooperative and helpful so the chief didn't think that they were going to demand 5 star treatment. In the end he decided to but them in the trainee barracks. The barracks were located at the centre of the compound and it would be suicide for someone to attempt a breach. With that sorted he headed sown to the briefing room where the leaders or defacto leaders of each of the groups had been assembled. Shownu, Jaebum, Taeil, Yixing, T.O.P, Namjoon, N, JinJin, Woozi, Onew, Leeteuk and Sunggyu were all present. Lee Suk explained what he could to the best of his ability and explained the living situation. Everyone was understanding and accommodating, and Lee Suk couldn't be more grateful. Once that was sorted he dismissed everyone bar Yixing and Taeil. He turned to the two very tired men and broke the bad news.

"I'm sorry, I know we wanted to delay this but we really need to talk to Mark and Jongin about what happened." Yixing and Taeil nodded they had already figured and had warned the other two. Jongin said he was okay with it but Mark was less so. Taeil told the director that and he nodded in consideration.

"That's understandable. We'll have Jongin and Mark do the interview together that way Jongin can do most of the talking and Mark will only need to interject. Do you think that would be okay?" The to nodded and were excused the director saying he would be by in a few hours.

Elsewhere another person was getting an earful.

"I cannot believe you kept this from me!" To say Tao was annoyed was an understatement. His manager had been keeping him away from the internet and news with the excuse that he needed time away from the stuff but know he's found out that there was an entirely different reason. His manager was hastily trying to placate the young Chinese man but Tao was having none of it.

"Plane ticket to Seoul. Now."

"Tao you can't. You're in the middle of rehearsal's do you have any idea what it'll cost to postpone this stuff? Besides there not your problem anymore you left."

Tao spun on his heel and walked straight up to his manager.

"Yes I left. But not because of them. Those people were my closest friends and family for a large part of my life. Minseok and Junmyeon cared for me and looked after me and I may never see of hear them again because some crazy bastard kidnapped them! And you want me to sit here. No. I'm sorry either you book the ticket or I will." With that he spun away heading straight for the closest airport. Lately he hadn't been on the best of terms with his ex-members and he hardly saw any of them except Yixing but that didn't mean he didn't care for them. As soon as he was driving he dialled a very familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lu, I need you to get Kris and meet me at the airport like 10 minutes ago."

"Why?"

"Some pyscho kidnapped Minseok and Junmyeon."

"What! Explain on the way."

Junmyeon and Taeyong were talking softly to one another. There was no real topic of conversation just stories of their respective groups. Like WinWin trying to teach 127 stretching or when everyone poured water over Junmyeon at their concert. After the heavy conversation before they fell asleep they both needed some sense of normalcy. It What is while they were talking they had the first signs that something was going on. There were noises and sounds coming from outside steel door. They could hear the sound of a struggle coming down the passageway,

"Let me go!"

"Get your hands off me!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Put me down."

The last cry sounded indignant rather than scared or angry.

The voices sounded rough and tired but Taeyong and Junmyeon would know those voices anywhere. They heard the key turn in the lock on the door swing open then they were greeted by a sight they never wanted to see. Thrown over the shoulders of one of the men was none other than the youngest Jisung. His hands were tied and he was kicking with his feet trying to get the man to put him down.

"No." Taeyong couldn't believe what was happening.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Taeyong shouted at the larger man pulling himself upright, Junmyeon following closely. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was one thing to do what they had done it was another entirely to do it to a minor. The larger man seemed to have no problem complying to Taeyong's wishes and promptly dumped the struggling kid into Taeyong's arms who barely caught the NCT maknae. Taeyong ran a worried hand through his hair checking for any injuries but finding none. Before he could ask the dancer id he was okay more men entered to room prodding more people into the confined space. Minseok was the next to enter and he smiled ruefully at his leader checking him up and down for injuries. Then to the utter shock of the SM artists SEVENTEEN's S. coups and Jun were pushed through two needing no encouragement as the gun to Jun's back worked perfectly well as a deterrent. Jun met Junmyeon's eyes and saw his eyes go wide in shock. Until this moment only EXO and NCT had been a part of this whole mess. Now it seemed that Junwoo was expanding his horizons. The masked men made to leave, and everyone was relieved, eager to be able to talk to the other idols. But something stopped them in their tracks, echoing don the hall came another distinctive voice.

"Damn you! Get your hands off me you filthy...mph" whatever would have followed was promptly shut off. Every jaw in the room dropped as Jiyong better known as G Dragon was manhandled into the room.

The older idol was struggling with his much larger captors and had a new bruise adorning his right cheek. Jiyong was thrown to the floor and the masked men made a quick exit. Door slamming shit and locking behind them. There was silence in the cell for all of 30 seconds before voices erupted in every direction. Junmyeon went to Minseok and then Jiyong, Taeyong started mothering Jisung asking the younger a tonne of rapid fire questions, Jun and Seungcheol were checking on each other before joining Jiyong, Junmyeon and Minseok. Greeting were exchanged by all parties but it felt weird giving they were meeting in a cell after they had been kidnapped. Minseok spent a good 5 minutes fussing over Junmyeon and Taeyong's battered and bruised appearances. Once the first adrenaline wore off they found themselves sitting on a circle on the floor. Taeyong had pulled Jisung into his lap and Minseok was letting an exhausted Junmyeon use his shoulder as both a stand and a pillow. Each of the newly kidnapped idols recounted their stories to the rest of the group and Taeyong and Junmyeon recounted an edited version of their tale, careful not to go to in detail with certain things. There was a child present! All in all it was a strange experience. Jisung couldn't believe that he was sitting within a meter of GD! Minseok was worried. Junmyeon and Taeyong were exhausted Seungcheol was rattled, Jun was scared and Jiyong was concerned for everyone. They didn't have much time to talk though. Less than 10 minutes after Jiyong's appearance the door opened again and Junwoo and 6 or seven of his men stepped into the room. Behind them what looked like a group of techies were rushing around at the front of the cell. The idols were pushed to the back of the room to allow the techies access. They set up lights and cameras among other equipment. Another man was fixing set of handcuffs to the floor. That sent shivers down their spines. The shiny cuffs contrasted with the dirty dull floor. Everyone was exchanging glances as everything unfolded, scenarios and ideas running through their heads at a million miles an hour. Taeyong grasped Jisung's hand with his own. The maknae was growing more independent and would usually make a fuss but it was a testament to how much he needed the physical reassurance as well when he merely squeezed back eyes fixed on the scene unfolding. Jiyong was watching the scene unfold with a cold glare to anyone who would met his eyes. But, behind his harsh stare his mind was in turmoil. While he had seen and been through some pretty terrible stuff in his life never had he been in such a situation as this where he had literally no control over what was going on. He hated not having the answers or knowing what was going on. It made his insides curl with anxiety. Further thoughts were cut off as Junwoo introduced himself to the newly kidnapped idols.

"Hello everyone." Junwoo was smirking, he was extremely happy with the results he had be a little sad when he couldn't get anyone from BTS or GOT7 but the group in front of him would work nicely. He clapped his hands and the two youngest flinched at the sound. Oh this was going to be fun. Taeyong tightened his grip on Jisung's hand. He had felt the dancer flinch at the loud sound and he wished with all his heart he could get the younger away unhurt. Junwoo continued to speak, voice harsh grating and sounding far too pleased with himself.

"I'm glad to make all of your acquaintance. I'm sorry for your treatment thus far. But as long as everyone does as they are told. And your bosses do what I want we wont have to harm you any further."

Junmyeon and Taeyong internally scoffed at the man's words. He had said that last time and then beaten them to an absolute pulp just for the ransom video.

"As you can see, my people are working to set up something very special. You see I realised where I went wrong the first time was that I gave them too much time so this time we are going to live stream the entire thing. They will have 6 hours to do what I wish and if they don't for every hour longer they take one of you will pay the price."

The idols were horrified. It was bad enough to be in this situation at all, but know it was going to be livestreamed for literally everyone to see.

"I bet your wondering how we are going to decide who gets to be the first victim."

That got their attention real fast. Junwoo smiled and then laughed. This was going to be so much fun. He had thought of this last night and he figured it would be fun to make them decide.

"I'm sure you can see the handcuffs." Junwoo spoke in a condescending manor, as if he was speaking to children and it grated on the nerves of the older ones. Minseok bit the inside of his cheek to stop a retort from spilling out.

"What's going to happen is that from right to left is the order in which we will punish you if your bosses don't cooperate. But, it's up to you who goes where. You get to decide who is first and who is last. So, what will it be. Will you suffer first or will you watch as everyone else is first?

Junwoo walked away after leaving that bombshell of a statement. The door shut behind him and he burst out into laughter. Grasping his knees he laughed and laughed. Those kids had no idea what that order was actually going to mean. When Junwoo had originally come up with the idea he realised he could still make money off the idols even if their companies didn't pay. They were all handsome young men and there were plently of people who would pay well for them. So keeping that in mind he had a small meeting with 5 of his more trusted people, Jaeyong, Mr Smith, Wonlee, Shihyun and Minhan. Then he has them each write out a punishment for him. Jaeyong's eyes had lit up when he said the only restriction was that they needed to live through it. Mr Smith seemed more repulsed by the idea but he had always been weak hiding behind his computers. Nevertheless he ended up with 6 punishments, 5 from them and one of his own making. Then they had drawn numbers to see whose punishment went where in the line. This is why Junwoo laughed. The order they chose would have no real meaning all it would cause was conflicted between the kidnapped men. In the end it was really up to where each punishment fell. He almost felt sorry for who received Jaeyong's punishment. But he had long forgotten the feeling of remorse or empathy.

Back at NIS headquarters the gathered idols were milling around the shared living space. It was rare for so many groups to be together in one place. If it had been under different circumstances the air would probably be filled with the sounds of laughter and yelling. But, instead it was the sounds of hushed tones and the occasional sob permeating the air. There were no 'group' sections and everyone was around everyone talking in hushed tones and offering as much comfort as they could. Not everyone knew the kidnapped idols well but they had all met at least one of them at some point. They had all seen the videos and the bruises adorning the bodies of the remaining EXO members were sign enough of what had and was occurring. Not only that but their own imagination was running wild, drawing up different scenarios of what could be happening to the friends and bandmates, imagining what I would be like if it was one of their own members. Such thoughts were running through everyone's mind and it kept the room sombre and hushed.

In a separate room Mark and Jongin were kept under medical supervision. They were happy to be together and they were able to talk occasionally without any of the other members. Those moments were few and far between and usually caused by one of the older members noting how much they had been drained and ushering the rest out. They were both healing, Jongin would probably be discharged the next day. Mark would be kept in longer. The gunshot wound requiring further observation.

"When do you think we'll know something?",

Mark asked Jongin. It had been hours and they hadn't heard anything. They were anxious for any for of news or communication. The two rescuee's now realised what I must have been like for their members waiting to hear about them. It sucked on so many levels. The not knowing.

"I don't know."

All they could do was hope and pray that their friends were okay and that they would be found soon. Hope was a hard commodity to find however and everyone was running low.

As soon as the door slammed shut there was silence. Just loud deafening silence. Everyone caught in their own thoughts. Digesting the struggle in front of them. The first words spoken were like a starting gun.

"I'm first." The words were spoken with finality and determination and perhaps resignation? Jiyong ran a hand over his face before moving to the pair of handcuff furthest to the right.

"Wait"

"Hang on, let's talk about this."

A babble of voices rose as spurred on by the two spoken words. But, Jiyong had figured that their response would be such, at least he thought he had figured them all out until the Chinese native spoke.

"Jiyong-ssi, you're so much more important that us. Let me go first."

For a second the eldest was struck silent. His words seemingly escaping him for the first time in a while.

"Do you really believe that?" Jiyong was incredulous and sad at the same time.

Jun shifted on his feet, uncomfortable with all the attention he now had.

"Well I mean, your kind of like the biggest idol in the industry and everyone looks up to you so I kind of thought that maybe, I mean, ah…." Jun trailed off hiding in Seungcheols shoulder. Seungcheol was equally surprised at Jun's words and reached up to stroke his hair as the younger flushed with embarrassment.

"Let's make one thing clear," Jiyong's voice wasn't unkind but it was firm," As of right now we are not idols or seniors or juniors. We are a group of people who need to work together to survive and hopefully escape yeah?" He made sure to lock eyes with everyone in the room. "So as the oldest I will be going first." This time there were no objections.

"I'll go next" Minseok spoke quietly and strongly with a hand placed on his leaders shoulders. "You might be my leader, but like Jiyong-hyung said we are one and you are both younger than me and injured."

"Minseok-ah" Junmyeon started to protest but he knew the look Minseok had in his eye. He didn't get it often but when he did he knew there was no way he could change his mind. It was the same look he had when he decided to stay behind for hours to practise, the same look he had when he forced Junmyeon to have breaks and to talk to him to stop his from burning himself out.

"Okay, I'll be after you." His voice was soft and tired. Minseok smiled wrapping an arm around his shoulder as they moved to the next two sets of handcuffs. Seungcheol wondered if he should volunteer to go before Junmyeon as the older was injured. But, he had no doubt the other would pull age rank on him. Seungcheol moved to the next set of handcuffs.

"Then it makes me next."

"Then me", Jun moved with Seungcheol.

"Wait. I'll go." Taeyong moved forward as well. "I'm older, I'll go"

"I Debuted First"

"Same year if you count the STATION tracks"

"You're injured."

Jiyong had to laugh. The bickering sounding too much like the playful bickering they had at home. Junmyeon and Minseok joined in and soon everyone was laughing. A sound that brought back a little bit of life to their tired and frightened minds. When they had managed to calm down Junmyeon laid his hand on Taeyong's shoulder.

"It's okay, you have done your part already. You're injured so let someone else protect you for a change."

Taeyong thought for a second before nodding, taking the spot after Jun. It was kind of an unspoken thing that Jisung would be last. There was no way anyone was going to let anything happen to the Maknae. It would appear that they were just in time as well as Junwoo re-entered the room. The techs had informed them that they were all set up and ready to go. They fell silent when Junwoo entered.

"I see you made up your minds. I can't say I'm terribly surprised by the order. But you realise that handcuffs are there for a reason."

They got the point a slowly dropped to their knees hand behind their backs. Junwoo pointed at Jisung.

"You, get up." Jisung looked around before pointing at himself,

"Me?"

"Yes you. Get up and hand cuff their hands." Junwoo reached down and yanked the Maknae up eliciting outraged cries from various mouths. Jisung stumbled a bit but Taeyong steadied him with a hand.

"Cuff them." Junwoo pointed at the set behind Taeyong. Jisung trembling knelt down behind his leader and as gently as he could with his shaking hands locked the cuffs in place. He was lucky Taeyong was so flexible as it made it easy to put the cuffs on. As soon as he was done he looked up at Junwoo who was looming over his shoulder.

"Tighter." Junwoo commanded, Jisung didn't move for a second and that was enough for Junwoo to get annoyed. He grabbed a handful of Jisung's hair pulling on it. This lead to guns being drawn as the other idols tried to rise to their feet. Resistance was quickly stamped out.

"I said tighter." Jisung reached with trembling fingers and clicked the handcuffs over another click so that they were completely snug against Taeyong's skin.

"Tighter."

"But they.." Junwoo shook the Maknae hard causing tears to spring to his eyes as hair was puled from his scalp. Taeyong was frantic

"Jisung-ah it's okay, just pull them tighter. It's okay. One more click can you do that for hyung?" Jiyong was mad. He could see what Junwoo was trying to do and it sickened him. Junwoo was deliberately trying to get them to hurt each other as the cause not only physical damage but mental and emotional as well. Is this what Taeyong and Junmyeon, Mark and Jongin had gone through the previous three days? Jiyong was sickened by the very thought. Jisung was again reaching for the cuffs and under Taeyong's steady encouragement managed to tighten them even further. Taeyong stopped any pained noises from leaving himself. The cuffs were now digging into his skin and Taeyong knew if he moved much or at all it would cause the skin to break.

Junwoo nodded and then stoked Jisung's head like a parent would.

"See that wasn't too hard now was it?" Jisung shuddered under the man's touch and Taeyong really wished he could end the man's life right there. Jisung then moved to Jun repeating the process over and over until he got to Junmyeon. Jisung wasn't crying anymore but he was still shaking and Junmyeon could see the pain in his face both from his hair being pulled constantly by Junwoo and by the pain he knew he was causing the others.

"You're doing good Jisung.", Junmyeon encouraged the other and Jisung nodded quietly. It was different to when Junwoo said it, far more comforting. He quickly cuffed the last three's hands before making it back to his place and kneeling down. Junwoo pulled his hands behind him grasping both wrists in one hand. Junwoo didn't cuff him immediately as he saw an opportunity here.

"You know Jisung, I've had a few offers from some friends of mine for you." Junwoo ran his free hand up the dancers arm causing Goosebumps to break up. "Mm, even if we don't get a ransom for you and quite sure you'll make me money in… other ways." Jisung was young but he knew what the man was implying and was completely still. Taeyong on the other hand was anything but.

"You filthy barstad.", he swore at the older man. "He's a child!" Junwoo smiled cuffing the dancers hands behind him before moving in front. Then he backhanded Taeyong across the face. Taeyong's hand swung to the left and would have probably ended up on the floor if not for the cuffs. The cuffs dug into his wrists further braking the skin and causing a line of red to form around his wrist.

"You know I don't appreciate talking out of turn."

"Now let's get on with the show."

Mr Smith was working furiously. Fingers smashing into his keyboard. He had been warring with himself ever since the had killed the kill. Her name was Lara. She was sixteen, a high schooler with dreams of being a teacher. Now she lay cold and unmoving. Now they were going to do the same thing to seven vibrant young men. Mr Smith wasn't going to kid himself. There was no way Junwoo would let the idols go. If they didn't end up dead they would no doubt be sold into a fate much wose than death could ever be. The youngest was 16 for God's sake. Mr Smith laid his head on the keyboard, breathing harsh an untimed. He didn't know what to do. He was supposed to be broadcasting this to as many channels as he possibly could and with a click of the button the feed from the cell would be broadcast through every internet driven television network. The cypher was untraceable and had cost him a few favours to get it but Junwoo had made it very clear that anymore mistakes on his part would end in his own death. Nevertheless, Mr Smith couldn't justify condemning 7 boys to literal hell for his own comfort. But, he still wanted to live. Kicking back from the death Mr Smith violently shoved his chair over falling to the floor.

"I don't know",

His mind waged an internal war neither side winning until an idea popped into his head. Mr Smith picked himself and the chair up again and sat down at the laptop again. Opening the code for the cypher he started to make slight alterations in one very important are of code. It had nothing to do with th function of the code and it would work perfectly but if someone smart looked into the code they would see through a few backdoor entries a location for a very specialised IP address. The one linked to his personal laptop.

Junwoo smiled, the feed was about to go live. Which meant he had no need for Smith anymore. He sent a quick message to Jaeyong getting him to bypass Smith's workstation before arriving at the cell. Junwoo had no doubt Smith would no longer be breathing in the next 5 minutes. Now he turned his full attention to the men on their knees in front of him. It had ben hilarious to see them pick their order knowing that in the end it wasn't going to mean anything really. He was also surprised the red head had any fight left in him. He had been sure that Jaeyong would have broken the thin boy quickly but alas he obviously had more strength then Junwoo had given him credit for. But enough dilly-dallying in there was a show that needed to start.

"Go Live."

All over Korea everyone near a television was met by a piercing sound emitting from the speakers as the scheduled viewing morphed into something much darker and grungier. Television broadcasters simultaneously lost control of their networks and control rooms across Korea went into panic as their channels started broadcasting a live feed from a dark, dirty cell. In which seven figures were easily recognizable. People stopped to stare at the figures on the screens and shocked gasps and cries could be heard. These included those from the NIS headquarters. The lounge of the room the idols had been confined had a TV linked to the normal broadcasters and so at the same time as everyone else their football game turned into a few of their friends and members on their knees in a cell.

"Oh my God."

"Get everyone in here now!"

Junmyeon stared straight into the camera. He wouldn't give Junwoo the satisfaction of seeing his fear. As palpable as it was. He could see the others doing the same. The knowledge that everyone with a TV could see them was enough of a motivated to keep their heads high but Junmyeon wondered for how long they would be able to keep up the façade? Junwoo started this feed the same as the last with the demands the same as the last time 5 Million US each, 35 Million in total. Junmyeon knew the ransom wouldn't be paid so again t=he and the others were left waiting for either the deadline to be reached or for the metaphorical rescue to arrive.

The NIS control room was in a flurry of activity, as soon as the feed went live everyone started working to locate the signal, IP, profile the background on anything to give them a lead on the location. Lee Suk was firing off orders to each department but frustration built as the reports came back. Deciding to act on a whim he ran down to the idols dorm pushing open the door. He wasn't surprised to see the whoe, group gathered around the wall mounted television but he needed their attention so he flicked the switch to turn it off.

"What?

A Babble of voices rose and Lee Suk quickly cut them off.

"Sorry but I needed your attention", and he had it. Their complete undivided attention.

"None of your managers are here just so you know, but I need something from you." These people are using a code for more advanced than anything we have seen before. We need someone who can break it. I know this is a long shot but it worked last time. If you know anyone or have had any of your fans hack your accounts or anything like that. I need you to get in contact with them. They won't face prosecution for helping us but we need to creak the code."

He saw a few nods and a few cell phones being brought out. He indicated to the panic switch. If ou find anything press this button and we'll come running."

"Got it, we'll make some calls."

"Great, now I need to speak with EXO."

The remaining members of said group walked out to Lee Suk and followed him to the corridor.

"I have news for you."

He could see blank faces. Despair and exhaustion evident on tired and drawn faces.

"It's about your ex-members,"

Now that got a response, he could see confusion and something else he could discern floating in their eyes.

"We flagged them coming into the country. No doubt they heard about what was happening. Did any of them contact you?"

Yixing ran a hand through his hair,

"They probably contacted me or one of us but we don't have our phones are access to our online accounts",

"Ah that makes sense, well they're here"

"Wait what!"

"All of them?"

"Yes, I can get someone to take you to them if you would like."

Kris was pacing the conference room like a caged tiger and honestly it was driving Luhan slightly insane.

"Kris, can you please stop moving around like a caged animal?" Kris stopped in his tracks hand coming to him neck.

"Sorry"

"It's okay Kris-ge, we are all stressed and being locked in a room without any information is certainly not helping", Tao was stressed to put it lightly. Out of the three here he undoubtedly had had the best relationship with the missing members and he kept wringing his hands in fear. He was also worried about the reaction of his ex-members to their even being there. He knew Yixing-ge would be happy to see him and he was pretty sure about the others but uncertainty still crawled like a snake in his stomach. It was worse for Luhan and Kris, both were also worried about the reaction their ex-members would have to them leaving. Both of their exits had been messy and had left a lot of unanswered questions and hurt feelings.

"Do you think they'll even want us here?" Luhan voiced his doubts. He had been stressing over the question since they got on the plane to come to Seoul.

"They do." The three Chinese natives whipped their heads to the now open door. Yixing's figure silhouetted in the doorway arms open.

"Yixing-ge!" Tao was the first to react leaping into his friends arms much like a puppy.

"We're here too you know Tao", Baekhyun smiled from behind Tao's form. The others smiled from behind the two in front. While it was true there was a lot of unresolved tension among the group they were happy to see them. They slowly filed into the room greeting Luhan and Kris as well. The older two were more reserved then the younger Tao who jumped straight in.

Kris spoke to Yixing first "Yixing-ah, I'm sorry for coming unannounced, I"

"It's fine" Baekhyun cut it, "Really. I know we need to talk but that can wait until we are _all_ here yeah? I am just glad you're here and I know Junmyeon and Xuimin would be as well. Kai will be happy as well."

"He's here? But where's Minseok?" Luhan cut in. The hadn't had any information on the situation over the last 24 hours.

"You don't know?"

"No"

"Oh, well"

Kyungsoo was surprised that they didn't know what had gone down last he was sure by know that someone would have leaked it to the public. Plus with the new video it was clear that two people were missing and extra's had been added.

"Jongin and the youngest Mark from NCT made it out. Junmyeon and Taeyong helped them escape. Jongin's in a hospital room being treated for the injuries he received. But he's awake and healing."

"That's great!"

"But." Kyungsoo kept talking, "in retaliation it seems these people came back and took more. Xuimin, the Maknae from NCT Jisung, Jun and Seungcheol from SEVENTEEN and G-Dragon were all taken and are currently being held hostage." His voice was soft but there was no denying the words in his statement. Kris, Luhan and Tao all went rock still.

"No. No no no" That's not true."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way" Chanyeol reached over laying a hand on Luhan's shoulder.

"Do we know what's happening?" Kris asked, wary of the answer.

Chen nodded,

"They have been live streaming for the last 5 minutes or so. They don't seem to have been hurt much more but that going to change in the next 45 minutes when the deadline passes and they start enacting 'punishments'.

"Can we see?"

Most of NCT was gathered in Mark's room. He was still under observation so he had a separate room to the rest of them. It was a squeeze but the room had a T.V and they could all be together so they made it work. When the live stream started the room had gone dead silent. All eyes were trained on the screen, their only connection with their missing friends. Nothing had happened since Junwoo had made his demand known. The seven hostages remained on their knees on the floor. It was obvious they weren't allowed to speak the one time GD had tried he had swiftly been struck across the face eliciting a pained grunt from the eldest. The amount of nothing was maddening to the NCT members.

Across the hall in the other single room EXO had gathered around Jongin's bed. He too had a T.V in the room and the group found themselves in the same space as their juniors. Initially, there had been surprised greetings from the dancer when the three ex-members entered the room. But greeting were quick to be cut short as their attention was drawn to the screen and they could see for the first time properly the condition of their friends.

"Oh my God..."

"No way…"

From that point conversation had very little place in the room as all attention was kept on the seven figures on the screen.

"How much time is left?", Baekhyun had lost track of the time. Kris quickly checked his watch

"It's 6:47, so 13 minutes." Baekhyun sighed. He was terrified of what was going to happen to kidnapped idols when the 13 minutes were up. The members weren't stupid. They knew that there was no way of getting the kind of funds the kidnappers were asking for in the amount of time they had.

Back in the main room. Following EXO's exit multiple people went for their phones. Namjoon and Yoongi, Wonho, Leeteuk, N and Rave, Key and Onew and T.O.P and Seungri among them. Like EXO these men knew that there was no way to secure that amount of cash in an hour and unless something was done they were going to lose their friends.

Seungri walked into a corner before dialling an international number. The dial rang twice before being picked up. The person answered in Arabic. Seungri smiled,

""Hey Min-ah it's Seungri and I need a favour"

Junwoo was excited. The time was almost up and the first punishment was his one. He was excited to finally get some retribution for what these people had put him through. Honestly, this was all really their own fault. If they had all done as they were told and not ruined his plan then this wouldn't have been necessary. Watching as the clock grew closer and closer the seven he was disturbed as Jaeyong walked past with the still body of Mr. Smith.

"What do you want done with the body?"

Junwoo shook his head, having to kill Mr Smith was a bit of a loss but oh well,

"Just throw it in the river. Then come join me with the boys. It's time to have a little fun."

Jisung's knees hurt. The ache that had been lingering from his kidnapping was slowly spreading through his clothed knees into his legs and back. His head was fuzzy, he was cold and tired, and he really just wanted to go home and be surrounded by all his over-affectionate brother. Yes, even Jaemin. But, he knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Jisung had a pretty good internal clock, he had to for dance, and he was pretty sure they only had a few minutes till their time was up. He was sure Minseok-hyung had figured it out too cause his expression had steadily gotten darker over the last few minutes.

Jun had sensed the darkening mood in the room and he knew it didn't bode well. His arms were starting to cramp behind him and he knew he wouldn't be getting relief any time soon. Honestly, the Chinese native still had yet to process the current situation. He had been through hours of gruelling practises, threats and that one Saseang who went crazy but nothing in his life was like what was transpiring in front of his eyes. It didn't help that he knew his friends and family could see everything that happened as well. The blinking red light a constant reminder that they had an audience. Jun couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad. On one hand the thought of Minghao, Josh, Soonyoung and everyone being there for him filled him with strength but on the other the thought of them seeing what was no doubt going to happen filled him with utter dread.

To sat Taeyong was stressed would be an understatement. The men had left the door open, no need to confine their hostages anymore with them handcuffed to the floor and he had watched Jaeyong as he dragged someone's body past the door. He had been struck still by sheer terror when Jaeyong had looked up and met his eyes before smiling at him. Just the thought of it was enough to make him shudder. Taeyong had no doubt that If that man got his chance he would finish what he started. Plus, if that wasn't bad enough now Jisung was here. Taeyong had no idea how he would react if Jaeyong tried anything to his youngest. The red lines making it down from his wrists were a reminder that there was no mercy here.

Minseok mood was uncharacteristically dark. But he supposed the current situation made for some allowances. Minseok had an extremely accurate internal clock and he was sure they had less than five minutes before their time was up. The worst part of all of this is that he had absolutely no power or control over anything. The feeling of helplessness what not something he liked being accustomed with. Minseok could count on one hand the amount of times he had felt as powerless as he did now. That fact chafed him more than the handcuffs digging into his skin.

Seungcheol was stoic. At least he hoped he was externally. Internally he was doing backflips. Never in his life did he think he would find himself on his knees kidnapped. Seungcheol really didn't know what to do. He felt lost. Much like when NU'EST debuted without him, he didn't see the reason or direction he was supposed to take. Staying strong externally seemed to be the only thing he was capable of doing in this moment. But, he did have a goal through this. He figured the longer he held out the longer it would take for these monsters to get to Jun and the others. SO if nothing else he would be strong for as long as he possibly could.

Junmyeon was in pain. Everything hurt. He had bruises on cuts on bruises. The strain his knees and shoulder were under weren't helping either. Honestly, Junmyeon felt like caving, giving in to the fear and tears. But he knew from experience that it wouldn't do anything in this type situation. There was nothing he could change. Giving in would only mean that they got to take another part of him away and he refused to give them the satisfaction. They already had him physically. He would not give them his mind.

Jiyong knew. He knew how close time was to being up. He knew how close his 'punishment' was. To be fair he was terrified, but he had long ago chosen not to let fear be the deciding factor in his life. He had chosen to be first, and he would face it like he tried to face everything. He would be strong for as long as he was capable. He had no doubt that his family, members, friends and the police were doing everything they could to find them. Plus, he was sure that there were a few favours they could call in to help in the pursuit. What that meant was that he just had to hold out until help found them.

Junwoo walking back through the door disturbed the seven from their thoughts and all eyes snapped to the doorway. Junwoo was standing with his hands in his pockets and behind him was Jaeyong wheeling a metal hospital cart. Junwoo strode to the front of camera. Self-assurance and arrogance and excitement dripping off his persona. He waved to the camera before walking behind the kneeling idols. He ran his hand through Jisung's hair once again before moving to the opposite end ending up behind Jiyong.

"I see you haven't met our requirements."

Despite the fact they all knew the ransom wouldn't be paid it still was a blow to them all.

"Because of this, I have no choice but to begin the punishments I spoke of earlier. You have another hour if you wish to save the next one."

Jiyong let out a deep breath mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen.

Junwoo returned to infront of the idols.

"I know I let you pick your own order but I thought I'd let you know about the game we played as well. Me and 5 others decided on the punishments and pulled the order by random. So that means what punishment you each receive is completely by chance."

This was certainly a surprise to the idols. But they also noted that something wasn't right. Going by what the man said there were only 6 punishments? Junwoo saw their confusion and laughed. More like bellowed actually.

"I see you saw the little flaw."

Junwoo was beside himself. He knew that they would put the youngest at the end to try and save him. But Junwoo knew the most effect would be caused by hurting the youngest.

"Lucky number 7" Junwoo walked over to the youngest lightly holding onto his chin.

"7 get's all the punishments"

"NO!"

"You Cant"

"Monster"

Junwoo wasn't pleased by the outburst and quickly stood up. Motioning to his men they quickly moved to place coarse tape over the mouths of all the hostages bar Jiyong who they uncuffed and pulled to his feet and recuffed before throwing him to his knees in front of Junwoo.

"You got my punishment GD. So, let's get started."

Worry for the youngest was quickly overridden by worry for the eldest. Junwoo had turned back to the hospital cart and lifted out a syringe filled with a light yellow liquid.

"Hold him" Junwoo commanded his thugs. They moved to do as requested and held firmly to Jiyong's arms.

"What is that?!" Jiyong was struggling with the men holding him down. He didn't know what that substance was but he didn't want it in his system. Junwoo just laughed and grabbed hold of his hair pulling his head to the side exposing the veins on his neck. He viciously stabbed the needle into his neck enjoying the pained sound emitted from the rapper. Jiyong could feel the cold liquid enter his system and almost instantaneously he began to feel the effects. Every sense heightened, he could feel everything so much more. The arms holding on to tight, the hand still pulling on his scalp. Everything intensified and it was all Jiyong could do not to vocalised the sudden sensory overload. Instead he let out a single gasp. Junwoo smiled knowing how quickly this particular drug took effect.

"You can let him go" Jiyong instantly slumped forward as soon as the weights on his arms disappeared breathing deeply trying to control the rushing sensations. He lifted his eyes to Junwoo's and Junwoo smirked. He kicked the rapper in the chest sending him to the floor.

Fire exploded over Jiyong's torso. Rationally Jiyong knew that it shouldn't hurt this much but whatever Junwoo had given him was intensifying the pain. Jiyong winced as Junwoo pressed down on his chest.

"So you know, it's a plant based drug meant to intensify the sense 10 fold. Hearing, touch, smells everything intensifies including pain."

Jiyong was writhing on the floor.

"Of course I added to it, you should also start to experience dizziness, sweating, chills among other symptoms. But don't worry it won't kill you probably."

The other idols were in absolute shock. Everything had moved so fast. One minute Jiyong was kneeling next to them, the next he was on the floor writhing in pain. The tape over their mouths stopping them for yelling out. Not that that stopped them from trying.

Jiyong could hear the muffled sounds coming from his juniors but he really couldn't focus. Everything was too hot and too cold at the same time, sweat was soaking through his clothes at an alarming rate. On top of this Junwoo apparently decided this wasn't enough and motioned for his men to pull Jiyong up. Jiyong was unsteady on his feet, the drug causing him to lose most of his co-ordination. It was probably for that reason he didn't see the fist until pain exploded under his right eye. The blow sent him straight to the floor groaning in pain.

There was absolutely nothing he could do to stop the onslaught of kicks and punches.

Nationally broadcasting stations were in panic. They were literally broadcasting the torture of one of the nation's biggest stars and they couldn't stop it.

The NIS control room was equally in panic. They had had the code for over an hour and were no closer to cracking it then they were when they got it.

The Dorm with the detained idols was also in panic. For most of the room GD had been and was and inspiration and role-model to them all. To see the brutality of the kidnappers, mostly for the first time, sent the room into a spin. Many of the younger or soft-hearted idols had to leave as the beating continued. Unable to watch as pained grunts turned into yells and then into screams. Others turned to anger and others to silence. T.O.P watched in silent anger unable to remove his eyes from the screen. Daesung was already in tears, Taeyang and Seungri were silent. No-one knew how to comfort the torn members. In the end it was Super Junior that took the lead. The members divided themselves between the Big Bang members and offered their support. Whether it be simply sitting next to them, a hand on a shoulder or a shoulder when they finally fell into tears as GD lost consciousness.

Silence reigned in the room, the feed only giving off the sounds of harsh breathing both from the captors and the broken idol on the floor. Then a low buzz filled the room. Confusion reigned for a second before Seungri realised it was his phone. When he saw the number he stood up abruptly startling the group around him.

"Min-ah please tell me you have something."

"Oh thank God."

With that Seungri bolted from the room.

Things were getting out of hand. Lee Suk was running in circles. None of their techs had had the slightest bit of luck, none of the ground teams had found anything and none of their informants knew where Junwoo was holed up. It was to his complete surprise when a very out of breath Seungri burst into the room.

"Seungri-ssi what…", Lee Suk seemed to have lost all capacity to speak at the very sudden entrance from the singer.

"I have something."

You could have heard a pin drop.

The whole room went silent, and that was saying something for the bustling NIS control room.

"You what?", when Lee Suk had asked the idols for their help he hadn't expected anything to come from it.

"I said I have something damn it, will you listen and keep up please?!" Seungri would usually be a lot more respectful but he had just watched his brother get tortured.

Lee Suk shook himself out of his stupor,

"Yes of course. What have you got?"

"First I need your word that she won't get in trouble for this", Seungri was dead serious and stared straight at Lee Suk. Lee Suk was somewhat wary but he had already given his word.

"I already told you there wouldn't be any prosecution for helping us. Hell, it' more likely she'll get a medal."

Seungri visibly relaxed.

"Awesome, I'm sure that's what she needed to hear."

This confused Jae Suk

"Plus she said don't freak out when she comes in"

That worried him.

Then the main cut connection from its usual display white static taking over.

"What the hell?"

Then a grainy figure appeared.

"Hey everyone."

The figure materialised into a young woman in front of a very sophisticated computer setup.

Lee Suk and the rest of the room was shell shocked. Their cyber security was among the best in the world and they had just been hacked. Who the hell was this person? Seungri smiled at the figure walking forward.

"Hey, nice the see you could join us"

"Happy to help a friend." Then she turned to Lee Suk

"Seungri asked me to help find his friends and I can do it. In fact I almost had it before I came here but there's a problem. Because I'm not in Korea I need remote access to your servers. But none of the normal ones have a fast enough connection for me to be able to use my virus to reverse engineer the code. SO I need access to your server."

Lee Suk was shell shocked. He could not believe what had just occurred.

"I'm sorry you want access to what?!" One of his senior techs was standing up.

"Do you have any idea what's on those servers?"

Lee Suk groaned resting his head on his hands. His superiors were going to kill him for this.

"Seungri-ssi." Lee Suk turned to Seungri away from the escalating verbal battle between the techies.

"Do you vouch for her?"

Seungri nodded "I'd trust her with my life, if she needs access to those servers then she means it. She won't do anything other than find our missing friends. I promise." Seungri was 100 percent serious and Lee Suk could tell.

"Okay." Lee Suk turned back to his techs who were honestly acting like children.

"Stop it Jinhwa" Said tech abruptly halted mid-sentence eyes widening upon realization she had just had a yelling match in the middle of the control room. Lee Suk then turned to the women on screen.

"I have your word that you won't do anything other than find the missing idols?"

"Yes"

"Okay, give her access."

Jiyong was in so much pain. Everything felt as if it was on fire. Then everything was too cold. Damn it everything just hurt. Jiyong was lying on his side facing away from the camera and back towards his fellow kidnapee's and he almost couldn't stand the looks of shock, horror and terror etching themselves into his memory. Jisung had long since lost himself to tears, Taeyong and Jun too had tears glistening in the shafts of light. Junwoo had halted his assault of the idol and was looking down on his artwork. He had to say that the smatterings of red, blue and purple did look lovely.

"I guess that means were done" Junwoo clapped his hands together loudly causing the restrained idols to jump. Jiyong could only let a breath he didn't know he was holding escape from his beaten body. He knew he wouldn't have lasted any longer. He was already just grasping onto consciousness and one more blow to any part of his body would have no doubt sent him into the dark abyss. Jiyong couldn't bear to turn to the camera not wanting anyone to see him in this state but especially not his members.

That choice however was no left up to him as Junwoo reached down entangling long fingers into his hair pulling him up and twisting it so he had to face to camera.

"This is the result of failure to comply with our demand. Your next 15 minutes start now. If you fail again we move onto the next one. "

Junwoo dropped his hold on Jiyong's hair and the idol promptly collapsed in a head on the floor head crashing into the floor. Jiyong hadn't wanted to give in but the encroaching blackness gave him no choice and he slipped away.

The last thing he heard were the distressed sounds emitting from his juniors.

Junwoo capped his hands together and waltzed out of the room. He felt so much better now he had caused some damage. Leaning against the wall he let a low laugh escape from his throat. I was honestly too much. The sounds of flesh on flesh, pained yelps and grunts. It was just beautiful. Allowing more laughs out Junwoo felt tears gather in the corner of his eyes and the laughter kept coming. It was just so funny. The reactions of the others were like a symphony and his punishment was the easy one. He couldn't wait to see how they would react to Wonlee's or Jaeyong's. Those were truly sadistic. Pulling himself off the wall he walked back to his office small chuckles still escaping. If any of them thought they were getting out of here alive they were sorely mistaken.

The silence that followed Junwoo's exit was deafening on so many levels. No longer did the sound of fists and feet hitting flesh fill the air. But there was also no sound from any of the other men in the room. Everything was silent bar the quiet sobs emitting from Jisung and Jun. The other idols were in a trance like state. Jiyong lay still on the floor the stuttered rhythm of his chest rising and falling the only indication he was even alive. His face was towards the chained idols and they could seeing the blood clotting and the blue and purple bruises already forming. All in all Jiyong looked like he had been used as a human punching bag and for all intents and purposes he had been. The occasional shiver from his body let them know that the drug was still working in his system but there was nothing they could do about that.

Minseok's mind was running at a million miles an hour and al he could think was that he didn't want to go through that. He cursed himself for being weak but it was true. There was no way on this earth he would want to go through what his senior just had. Minseok dragged his eyes away from Jiyong's still body closing his eyes trying his best to prepare himself for the pain he knew was headed his way.

The room was silent. A strange occurrence for a room full of young men. The sudden rushing as Seungri bolted from the room caused a stir but with his absence silence once again reigned.

"I think we should turn it off." It was Leo who spoke breaking the silence. Every head turned to him so he continued speaking.

"This isn't doing anyone any good. They wouldn't want us all to be in tears and miserable."

"So what we just wait until something happens?!" Ten was loud and accusing.

"What if they die?! We wouldn't even know!"

Leo spoke in a much softer voice understanding the pain the younger was going through.

"I know, but everyone beating themselves up over what's happening is only going to add to the amount of pain those men are causing. This is what they want! Don't you see by watching we are doing exactly what they want us too."

Key broke in,

"Leo-ssi is right to an extent. There is nothing any of us can do. That's simply the truth. Nothing we do will change what's going on. So causing ourselves pain isn't going to help anyone. It certainly not what our friends would want."

"But what if….." This time it was Soonyoung who broke in but he was unable to finish his sentence. Everyone understood though.

Leeteuk nodded. This was a very complicated issue. Everyone here was friends or knew at least one person who had been abducted. No doubt they wanted to be there for their friends. But for the most part they were just causing themselves pain. The members of NCT EXO and SEVENTEEN would no doubt resist any attempt to remove them from the room. Out of fear that they would lose their friends and they wouldn't be there for them. Leeteuk sighed. This wasn't a situation anyone should have to be in. It was all unfair. But he had to make a solution.

"How about this, Every group can leave one person in here. If something happens or they think their members should be here they can go get them. That way the smallest amount of people will be exposed to the violence."

Kyungsoo and the rest of EXO had come back into the room just as Jiyong had fallen unconscious and he saw the merit in Leeteuk idea. His own members were tired, stressed and worried and witnessing what they just had wasn't helping in any way. He was quick to step in. He too had seen the damage done to everyone in the room and no doubt many of them would be having nightmares for many weeks to come.

"I think that's a good idea."

Kyungsoo was immediately met with resistance from his own members

"But Soo, we want to be here." Baekhyun's voice was gravelly and he was obviously tired.

Even though Kyungsoo wasn't the oldest he felt he was the best equipped to deal with the current situation with a clear head. The others were too worried.

"No Leeteuk-hyung is right. We aren't helping Junmyeon-hyung and Minseok-hyung by hurting ourselves. They wouldn't want us to hurt as well. You know that."

Kyungsoo was kind in his delivery. He caught the gaze of Taeil and he nodded to show his consent.

The others in the room weren't overly keen on the idea but once Leeteuk, Kyungsoo and Taeil all agreed everyone followed their lead. The groups quickly decided who would be left behind. In majority of cases it was the leader who stayed behind. The rest of the young men filed out of the room into the others ones close by promising not to turn on the T.V's. Each leader took note of which room their group went into so they could run and get them if necessary.

Once the babble died out as everyone dispersed. It left 10 men in the room. These men kept their gaze on the clock counting down to the next punishment.

Without the sounds from the T.V Jongin and Mark's room felt eerily quiet. Most of their members had returned back to the main room to check on the happening and Jongin and Mark had been moved into a single room with no T.V.

"I wish it was me."

Jongin's eyes flicked to the young rapper curled up in his white sheets looking far smaller than he was.

"What?"

"It should have been me. If I hadn't gotten caught then maybe we would all have gotten away. It's all my fault.

Jongin's eyes widened realising that the youngest must have been talking about the code he sent out.

"No Mark this isn't your fault."

"YES IT IS! If it wasn't for me Taeyong-hyung and Junmyeon-hyung would be fine and back home where they should be!" Mark dissolved into tears.

"It's all my fault".

Jongin couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was his message that meant that they even got a chance to escape but he still though it was his fault?

"Oh Mark." Jongin climbed out of his bed and climbed in with the young idol. He pulled the shaking boy into his chest.

"None of this is your fault. If it wasn't for you then we both would still be back in that hell. Taeyong doesn't blame you I promise in fact he would probably congratulate you for doing a good job Mark. You did well."

Mark soon tired of crying and fell asleep in Jongin's arms. Jongin too was lulled to sleep by the steady sounds of Mark's breathing. That was how their members found them later. Curled together braced against a world far too dark for their bight souls.

Minseok was worried. Actually, worried was a bit of an understatement. Though perhaps not for the reason you might think. As far as he knew their punishments were supposed to be individual. But ths new setup clearly wasn't meant for 1 person. In the last few minutes two metal chairs connecting to a set of foreboding wires had been brought into the room and hooked up to what looked like an old car battery with what seemed like a control panel on top. From what Minseok could gather this setup required at least two victims. Minseok looked around trying to figure out who the other victim would be. Jiyong was certainly out of the question. The producer was still out cold on the floor. He didn't think Jisung would be used. Not if they intended to give him all the punishments. Minseok still was stuck on that fact. He kind of understood that Junwoo wanted to make a statement. But using a minor? Minseok shook his head unable to wrap his own thoughts around the twisted thoughts of their captor. He wasn't left with too much time to ponder anything. There were less the 2 minutes before his time ran out. A small part of him had hoped that rescue would come before anything happened but that voice had long since quietened. Hope was quickly becoming a lost ideal. Fear and uncertainty creeping into the last places of resistance in time with the counting down of the red numbers.

Wonlee was excited. He hadn't been able to use this technique since he left the mental hospital. What it did was pit the victims against each other. There was always debate of who was hurt more by the process. Was it the one in the chair or the one on the dial? Wonlee, who actually had a degree in psychology, so yes he did know how messed up both he and the rest of his cohort are, believed that the mental trauma caused by turning the dial far outweighed any type of physical trauma one could experience. Now only came the process of choosing the three patients. The one the punishment was for… Minseok? The small feline looking one anyway. He would have to be on the dial. After all this was supposed to cause him the most damage. For maximum damage he would need the next two closest people to him. After some quick research and deliberation, the choices were obvious. It was almost ironic really. These two had really been through the wringer already and this time it wasn't even for them. Wonlee had to laugh. The fact they were already injured would mean he would need to be a little careful but if something happened he could always substitute them out for one of the other idols.

The lack of being able to communicate with one another was one of the worst parts of waiting Seungcheol had decided. The gags were rough and pulled on the skin around his skin. They also restricted their ability to breath properly and that wasn't even the worst part! The worst part was the silence that filled the room. Creeping into every pore and crevice. The only sounds the breathing of the people in the room and the soft sounds emitted by the equipment. The silence left nothing to focus on but the clock. Counting down to each punishment. That was the worst. He was pretty sure everyone would agree with him. It sucked not being able to comfort each other. He couldn't touch his own bandmate! The cuffs keeping them firmly in position with very little wriggle room. Then it happened. Almost simultaneously, the door was thrown open and the clock reached zero.

In the minute before the next punishment was due to begin Kyungsoo went out and got all the members of EXO past and present. The other idols made room so that the group was able to sit together. There were some surprised looks when Kris, Tao and Luhan entered the room. But, wisely no one mentioned anything instead focusing on the screen. The room had been modified to include a set up of chairs and wires which did not bode well at all. Then the same man as last time came to the front, repeated his demands and then waved another man over. Taeil started. This was one of the men that had had a hand in their kidnapping. Wonlee if he remembered correctly. He told the others in the room as much. Kris was glad to have a name as it would help him find the man he needed to end.

The man, Wonlee, started talking to his hostages and everyone in the room went white. Then Minseok, Junmyeon and Taeyong were pulled from the line on the floor.

When Wonlee started explaining how this was going to go Minseok felt his heart drop into his stomach. No. This wasn't happening. As the gag was removed and the handcuffs undone Minseok felt he was moving underwater. It was only when the pulled a wincing Junmyeon and Taeyong out of line that he came back to his sense.

"No. No!" Minseok struggled in his captors hands. He managed to get a single had free and raked a hand down his captors hands. His nails causing shallow gashed to appear. His hands were quickly recaptured and bound in front of him and cuff to the head causing him to be slightly dazed and easily pulled into position.

"Minseok!"

"Hyung!"

It would appear Junmyeon and Taeyong's gags were removed because the first thing Minseok heard when his mind returned was their worried voices.

"I'm okay"

Wonlee had had enough and quickly had the other two strapped down and hooked up before explaining the game.

"Here's what's going to happen",

Wonlee grabbed Minseok's hand and placed them on the left dial of the control panel, the wires running onto the chair Junmyeon was on.

"When I say you are going to turn this dial up for 10 seconds, count the seconds out loud and then turn it off. The next time you turn it up to the next setting." Minseok shook his head,

"I can't. I would never. You can't make me!" Minseok was horrified, he was smart enough to know that this was being told to electrocute one of his best friends.

Wonlee smiled, this was the best part.

"I know and I won't force you too."

This confused everyone in the room. Wasn't the point to cause him pain? There had to be a catch.

"But every time you refuse I turn the dial twice as much on Taeyong."

Minseok felt the air leave his body in an explosive gasp. Then he was bombarded by the two on the chairs.

"Minseok, it's fine just do what they say."

"Hyung, I can take it don't worry. Don't do anything you don't want to."

"No. Minseok please I can take it. Just do what they say. I won't hold it against you. It wasn't your choice. There isn't any choice here."

Junmyeon was firm in speech and to be honest it was slightly calming to Minseok. He turned to Wonlee who was smiling widely.

"Please don't make me do this."

Wonlee laughed at Minseok. This was the best part.

"No. Either you turn the dial and start counting or I will."

"You have 5 seconds to decide"

1

"Minseok. It's fine. Just do it"

2

"I can't"

3

"It's okay"

4

"Please don't do this"

5

"I'm so sorry"

The sound of electricity filled the room and a pained screamed was wrenched out.

Baekhyun bolted for the restroom emptying the meagre contents of his stomach. He continued to dry heave painfully. He could feel one of the members rubbing soothing circles into the small of his back as he struggled to get his breathing under control. When he felt he could breathe without feeling like throwing up he slowly turned around. Lay gave him a knowing smile and passed him a cloth to wipe his face with and passed him some mouthwash before leading him to sit on the ground. Baekhyun slumped against the white wall curling into a small wall. He felt Lay sit down next to him. Lay didn't say anything waiting for the other man to speak. They sat in silence for a minute letting Baekhyun gather his thoughts drawing comfort from the other man. When he finally opened his mouth to speak his words were quiet and raspy.

"He sounded like he was dying."

As soon as he started to speak the tears started flowing.

"He was in so much pain and they kept making him turn it up higher and higher. He _screamed_ Yixing. He screamed and they laughed.

How could anyone be so cruel?" The singers voice was cracking and straining as he struggled with his words.

Yixing shook his head softly finally pulling the other man under his arm letting his tears seep into his shirt.

"I don't know Baek. I don't know" Yixing had no words that would alleviate the images or pain from either of their minds.

"He sounded like he was dying Xing, what happens if they go too far and…what happens if they.."

"No! No. You can't think like that Baekhyun." Yixing moved the smaller man so he was looking him in the eye.

"We can't think like that. Minseok-hyung and Junmyeon-hyung will do their best to get back to us. You know that right?"

Baekhyun nodded,

"The least we can do is have faith in that. They're not going to leave us without putting up a damn good fight."

"I can't do it! He'll die if I do it again!"

Minseok was shattered. He had long since stopped crying, having run out of tears to cry, and he was left dry sobbing every time the man forced him to turn the dial. Wonlee on the other hand was having the time of his life. Every time the electricity forced a scream out of the idols body it was a symphony resounding in his ears. The pleas and cries from the other two backing instruments that emphasised the overall sound. It was a masterpiece as his own design. But what the older idol spoke was true. The leader had long since passed out from the pain and Wonlee could tell from here that his breathing had slowed to an alarming rate. A result of the electric currents messing with his body's natural signals. But, he wasn't quite ready for the music to stop.

"You know what happens if you don't turn the dial." Wonlee gestured to the red haired idol.

"It's fine! Minseok-hyung it's fine!"

Minseok was torn and the battle that waged in his mind pleased Wonlee to no end. On one hand there was an extremely high chance that if he shocked Junmyeon again he would die. But, on the other hand the idea of Taeyong being shocked twice as hard scared him to no end. He didn't want this! He didn't want to have to choose between the two. In the end it was his junior's words that swayed him.

"Hyung." Taeyong was completely serious, "This isn't even a choice. He'll die, you said it yourself, if he gets shocked again. That leaves me. This isn't a choice you're making. This is our reality. It's none of our fault. The blame rests entirely on this monster's shoulders. Not you…." Whatever, Taeyong planned on saying next was shut off by Wonlee back handing him across the face.

"Too much talking." He turned to Minseok, "Make a decision."

Minseok locked eyes with Taeyong sending him a final question and he nodded. Minseok took his hands off the dial.

"I'm so sorry Taeyong."

Wonlee grinned clapping the idol on the back.

"See that wasn't so hard."

Then he turned the dial on the right.

Taeyong went completely rigid as the flow of electricity surged through his body. His muscles forced to cramp and relax continuously. He heard someone screaming before he belatedly realised it was his own voice. He tried to grit his teeth together to stifle the noise but he couldn't. It felt like hours before the flow stopped and he slumped in his restraints. Breathing coming out in pained gasps. He could hear the sobs of Jisung and someone else behind him but he couldn't focus. Black spots were drifting in and out of his vision. He felt his head being lifted by his chin and he found himself looking into Wonlee's dark eyes.

"Well I wasn't expecting you to be awake at all after that so I must say I'm slightly impressed." Wonlee then let his chin go and his head dropped back to his chest as he tried to regulate his breathing in order to help alleviate the burning pain he felt in every part of his body. He felt him chains be removed and if not for the strong arms holding him he would have pitched face first into the ground. He was dragged along with Junmyeon-hyungs unconscious body and re-handcuffed to the cold floor. As soon as his head hit the floor Taeyong felt his body give up and the black covered his vision.

Minseok watched all this with growing horror. The two idols were little more than ragdolls as the burly men manoeuvred them back to their spots. He was still handcuffed to the damn electricity device when the only thing he wanted to do was check that they were still both breathing. Wonlee came to stand in front of Minseok before he started speaking.

"So how does it feel?" Minseok as confused by the question. What did he mean how did he feel? He just watched his two friends be tortured.

"What?" Minseok looked up to the intimidating man.

"I'm sorry let me elaborate. Instead of experiencing pain yourself instead your pain was transferred onto your friends. So how does it feel to have escaped the physical pain?"

Minseok blanked out. How on earth had he escaped the pain! He wasn't given a choice. He gladly would have taken to pain over having the others go through it! He told Wonlee as much and the older man smiled and then laughed.

"I expected as much. This is your weakness. All of you. You rely so much on one another you allow it to cloud your own self-preservation. News Flash people! People change, move on and betray you. You won't be friends forever and one day you'll look back on this and not regret them being the ones being in pain instead of you." Wonlee leaned over and unlocked Minseok's handcuffs. Minseok took it as an opportunity to whack the older man across the face.

"That's where you're wrong." Minseok was quickly restrained but he kept talking. "I won't ever think like that and you know why. Because that's my family and family doesn't change." Wonlee laughed massaging his sore jaw.

"We'll see". Minseok was then re-cuffed to the ground. On both his sides were unconscious idols and Minseok couldn't help but think that it wouldn't be too long before they were all like that.

Back in the NIS HQ the silence was overwhelming as Min worked on the code. Seungri was wringing his hands at one of the desks unable to contribute any more tot eh rescue.

"Oh. My. God." Every eye turned to the screen as Min looked straight forward.

"What!?" Lee Suk asked impatiently.

"We must have a friend on the inside cause someone's left the tracking code for the computer that's streaming all of this."

"What does that mean?" Seungri asked rising out of the chair.

"It means I can find them."

The return to consciousness was hard and painful for Jiyong. The ground was cold and hard tendrils of cold creeping into his trembling body. The pain was everywhere. Seeping out of every muscle, bone and bruise. The sounds around him were muffled as if underwater and his sight was blurry. Jiyong lay still trying to get his senses back. He closed his eyes forehead resting on the ground. Slowly sound came back and he could hear laboured breathing and small sobs. Part of him wanted to stay as he was and drift back into the dark but his curiosity and his empathy wouldn't let him. Groaning he pushed his eyes open and focused on the scene in front of him. Directly in front of him Minseok was still on his knees but Jiyong could tell something had happened. No doubt his groaning had alerted the others to his consciousness and Minseok was staring at him with large eyes. It was his eyes that told Jiyong something terrible had happened. His eyes which, the few time Jiyong had met the other man, were usually sparkling with life and a radiance that was so captivating were hollow and raw. The redness surrounding them were a tell tale sign of crying. But, the most startling thing was the overwhelming guilt. Jiyong could see it as if it was the waves of the ocean crashing and tossing about. He didn't know what had caused it but to probably had something to do with the prone figure next to Minseok. Junmyeon was lying on his side with hands cuffed behind him a similar position to what Jiyong himself was in. What was surprising were the occasional shakes Junmyeon experienced. The other man was obviously unconscious yet his body still moved. It didn't take long for Jiyong to survey the rest of the room, or as much of it as he could see lying down, and see the car battery that had been hooked up. Jiyong quickly put two and two and his sympathy went out to the other man. Minseok was letting muffled sounds escape through his gag no doubt trying to ask if he was okay so Jiyong nodded smiling as best he could around the gag. Then he pushed himself to his knees as best he could. His attempts were clumsy and if the situation had been different it probably would have been quite funny. His body let out protests as he moved but Jiyong ignored them. When he was finally upright, breathing laboured again, he looked down to the other idols. Seungcheol and Jun looked fine asking with their eyes if he was okay to which Jiyong nodded but it was the state of the red haired younger idol that surprised him. His brain wasn't really working but he remembered that the punishments were in order according to the time and there had only been time for 2 maybe 3 punishments certainly not enough to get to Taeyong. The young rapper was unconscious on the floor blood again seeping out of the cut on his forehead. The youngest, Jisung, was in tears eyes trained on his leader. Jiyong had no idea what had happened and he turned questioning eyes to Minseok who saw the question and merely shook his head the guilt flooding through his gaze. Jiyong was thoroughly confused but he wasn't left with much time to ponder the situation as Junwoo walked back into the room eyes sweeping across the room landing on the unconscious idols.

Junwoo was mildly annoyed. Wonlee apparently had gone a bit too far and had left the next idol already unconscious. Which would mean they would need to scrap his punishment if the order was to follow through. It didn't really matter as his punishments was Smiths and it was incredibly boring. The man was obviously not into violence more content to sit behind his computers. This meant they moved onto the next punishment. This was one of the ones his men had come up with and it certainly promised to make a mess. Turning to Jaeyong he dismissed him to work with a casual flick of his hand,

"Go get the water"

Back in the idol's room there were stony faces, tears and sobs. Baekhyun and Lay had yet to return after the younger bolted from the room. A few of the other idols had to leave the room in search of the bathroom N, Shownu and Taeil among them. The scene had left everyone with sounds and images that would be forever imprinted in their memories. Leeteuk was extremely relieved that they had forced the rest of the idols out of the room. Leo and Key were right, there is no way their members would want them to see this. Leeteuk was seated on one of the few single recliners and he let his head fall into his hands tears escaping as he grieved for his friends and those he had rarely met. It wasn't fair for anyone involved. Most of the people inside that hell were under 25 they were supposed to be worrying over the next choreography, dating scandals and things like that not whether or not they were going to see their friends killed in front of them on air. Jihoon was super tense he knew that there was a high possibility that Junmyeon would be skipped due to his current state of unconsciousness which would make Seungcheol next. Jihoon slowly rose to his feet letting his voice carry to everyone in the room,

"I'm going to get my team."

Jihoon walked out of the room without waiting for a response. He wasn't expecting to get one so it was a surprise when he was stopped by another voice.

"Jihoon-ssi." Jihoon turned around to the worried gaze of Namjoon.

"Yes Namjoon-ssi?" Namjoon wrung his hands before carefully letting his words out.

"You saw what just happened and I know a lot of your members are still young. It's just it will probably be just as bad and you may want to give them a choice whether they come or not. It won't be pretty and I know it's not my place but honestly it's probably better if they didn't see their leader tortured in front of them." Namjoon finished soft words trailing off. Jihoon knew the other leader spoke true and it wouldn't really do anyone any good if it just caused reactions like the EXO members had.

Jihoon nodded to the other man "I Know, we'll make a decision as a team."

Namjoon nodded in response "Okay".

Jihoon walked out of the room and quickly looked in other rooms looking for the rest of SEVENTEEN. He wasn't completely surprised to find them in a room with GOT7 and MONSTA X. As he opened the door every eye snapped to him.

Jeonghan stood up out of his place between Joshua and Mingyu.

Jihoon nodded running a hand over his face, "Yes, but you need to hear me out first." Jihoon received blank stares at that one so he continued.

"I just watched what happened to the others and it was beyond horrific and I'll never get the screams out of my head." He had everyone's irrevocable attention. Jihoon could feel the tears prick at his eyes but continued on nevertheless, "I don't think it will do any of us any good to watch what happens next. All its going to do is leave us with scars and nightmares and you all know that that's not what they would want."

Silence reigned for a few seconds before he got any response and surprisingly it was Joshua who spoke first.

"I… agree." Joshua was quiet and soft spoken "I know that as much as I want to be there and understand what they are going through the last like Seungcheol or Jun would want is for us to go through pain as well. I'll stay here." Following that statement the group split into two groups. Jeonghan, Wonwoo, Minghao and Soonyoung decided to go with Jihoon back to the live stream and the rest decided to stay behind. The smaller group left with promises to come get the others if it looked like the unthinkable was going to happen. The group left behind were quickly comforted by the two other groups present.

Meanwhile, Seungcheol and Jun were watching the clock as it steadily made its way towards the mark that would indicate the start of Seungcheols punishment. The sound of the door slamming open again broke the idols out of their vigil over the clock and Jaeyong and a few other men carried a large tub filled with water into the room placing it in the middle of the floor. Jaeyong then turned to the idols laughing,

"You know your companies must not care too much about you. We haven't received any contact from any of them. "

The idols felt their stomachs drop. There was still a small part of them that hoped that they would be freed from this prison soon but evidently that wasn't going to happen. Then the clock rang true and Jaeyong smiled widely.

"I guess that's time then. Time does fly when you're having fun."

Jun eyes went wide out of pure terror as Seungcheol was yanked from his position.

Junwoo strode into the room,

"Let's get started shall we?"

Jeonghan had wanted to be there for Seungcheol but they were less than a minute in and he already wanted to run from the room. The men on screen had pulled Seungcheol from the line and pushed him to his knees in front of a large tub of what he assumed was water. Then they had pushed his head and the water and had held him there. Seungcheol didn't move at the beginning appearing somewhat calm and collected but as time progressed he started to struggle against the hold of his captors. In return they pushed him deeper into the water. Jeonghan watched as the pressure built and built and as Seungcheol did his best to shake off his oppressors. His broad shoulder moving up and down in a vain attempt to dislodge the hands pushing him down. Then just as his struggles lessened his was pulled from the water gasping and coughing out water. Jeonghan felt himself release a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He focused his eyes on the erratic movement of his leader's chest assuring himself he was breathing. He was aware of a familiar arm finding its way around his shoulder and he smiled gratefully at the leader of GOT7 not ready to speak but happy for the comfort. His other members were similarly focused on the screen with at least one person around them. Jeonghan felt a pang of sadness at the thought of what it had taken to get them all together.

Seungcheol was heaving. Deep heavy breaths as he desperately tried to gather air back into his empty lungs. His chest expanded and deflated at a rapid pace. Then before he had even got his breath back he was shoved back under the water. Seungcheol felt the familiar pang of fear as the lungs started to build pressure knowing he couldn't relieve it. His throat started to burn, and he felt pricks and pins run up and down his throat as his lungs sought after extra oxygen. His eyes were screwed shut against the frigid water. Black hair hanging around his face. He felt himself begin to struggle his bodies own self-preservation instincts taking over rational thought. He started to thrash knowing it wouldn't stop them. This, he decided, was the worst part. The fact he couldn't control his response. He needed air and his body was overriding what he wanted in order to get it. It was a completely new sensation. Not being able to control his own actions. It scared him. His struggles reached their peak as his lungs practically begged for air. Then his struggles grew weaker. The lack of oxygen starving his brain of the ability to command his bod. The just like the first time right before he could give in to the dark he was pulled from the icy prison and onto the hard floor. Just like before he started gagging and heaving pulling in as much air as was physically possible. Black spots danced around his vision as he curled into himself arm snaking around his aching mid-section. Each cough reverberated making his chest hurt more. HE could hear Jun calling out to him but he honestly just didn't have the energy to look up instead focusing on breathing again. Then, much faster than the last time, he was pulled up again and shoved into the water. Seungcheol barely had a chance to take a breath and was instantly feeling the pressure. But evidently, it wasn't enough for his tormentors as a fist found its way to his midsection forcing the air from his lungs and letting the water in. Seungcheol started to choke. Cold water filling the places where air was supposed to go. Seungcheol thrashed and thrashed as he chocked and spluttered on the water. Then the black spots were back and this time Seungcheol barely put up a fight at all going limp in the hold on his captors.

"Damn It! Get him out now." Junwoo was having the time off his life as the broad shouldered male spluttered and choked but then he went limp and Junwoo instantly knew he had gone too far. Jaeyong pulled the male out and laid him on the floor.

"Damn"

He wasn't breathing.

"No…" Jihoon was in complete shock. Wonwoo had bolted from the room to find their other members as soon as Seungcheol had stopped moving.

Jihoon watched with dread filling his heart as Seungcheol was pulled from the water. Water dripping over his face that was pale from the cold, water droplets hanging onto his skin.

"Come on Seungcheol" Jihoon pleaded with the screen.

Every idol in the room could see the horror unfolding.

"He's not breathing." Jihoon didn't know who was speaking but all he could do was focus on the still chest of his leader.

"Come on Seungcheol. BREATHE!"

Jun was screaming.

Desperate, heart wrenching, pained screams as he waited for one of the most important people in his life to take another breath.

When Seungcheol was first pulled from the water limp and lifeless it was as if time had stopped. Jun heard the intake of breath from each of the other idols but past that he heard nothing as he zoned in on the unmoving chest of his leader. It seemed like an eternity of waiting for him to just _breathe._ That basic normal function that everyone takes for granted. As his gaze was trained on his chest he became aware of the sounds of his own desperate screaming, muffled by the gag. The sound was hollow as if he was he one underwater.

Jun strained forward in his restraints in a vain desperate attempt to reach his friend. The cuffs broke his skin causing red rivulets of blood to make their way down his wrists. Twisting and turning down an unmarked path the blood created a pathway of Jun's despair as he continued to ignore the pain he was causing himself and strain against the cuffs.

To his left and right he could hear screaming and crying but he couldn't focus on that. All he could focus on was his leader's chest waiting for him to breathe.

Jaeyong realising his mistake knelt beside the unconscious idol pressing an ear to his chest. Hearing no breath he started first with chest compressions forcing the heart to beat and push blood around Seungcheols body. Next he pinched Seungcheols nose shut and breathed in the idols mouth flooding his lungs with air and much oxygen. Then the cycle repeated 1, 2, 3 times each time Jaeyong paused waiting for the idol to breathe. By the fourth time Jaeyong as willing to give up. He wasn't worth that much anyway and it would serve as a good enough example as to what would happen if their demands weren't met.

Jaeyong breathed into the idols mouth one last time before pulling away and waiting for a response.

There was none.

"No."

Jihoon uttered the word in entire disbelief as the burly man stepped away from his best friends body.

"No!", Jihoon lurched forward in his seat leaping towards the screen.

"No! You have to save him!"

Jihoon was caught by strong arms before he could reach he screen which he no doubt would have broken. He strained against the arms holding him.

"Let me go! They have to save him! They cant leave him…" Jihoon voice started to fail as he collapsed into the arms of Shownu and JB.

"They can't stop." Jihoon as well as every other member of SEVENTEEN was in full out tears. He sunk bonelessly into the chest of the larger man behind him sinking to floor between Shownu and JB.

"They can't…", Jihoon voice was so small and it teared at the hearts of the men with him.

"I'm so sorry Jihoon-ah" Shownu wrapped an arm around the shaking producer saying nothing else as tears of his own found their way down his cheeks. He said nothing when he felt the other curl into his side, his hands clutching at his shirt.

Jihoon was barely aware of anything as the reality that he had just seen his oldest friend killed in front of him set in. Hot tears were tracking their way down his face and his throat was constricting.

This was why when the first cough resounded he almost missed it. It was small and feeble but was quickly followed up by deeper hacking coughs as water was desperately expelled from tired lungs.

Jihoon's head whipped to the screen to see the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

Seungcheol was curled in on himself hacking his lungs up.

He was _breathing._

 _He was alive._

 _Alive_

Seungcheol was gasping for breath.

It was the only sensation he could feel at the current moment. Lungs desperately pulling in air at a rapid pace and expelling leftover water out. His chest hurt and every body-shaking cough would send pained twinges down his body. His mind was purely focused on one thought.

 _BREATHE._

As soon as his body had finally gotten oxygen circulating his other senses came crashing back. Suddenly he could feel the bone-chilling cold seeping into his body from the floor. He could taste vomit in his mouth from when he had expelled the water in his lungs. He could feel his shirt sticking to him as the water clung on. But most importantly, he could hear his members desperate pleads. Even though the words were more or less indecipherable he got the gist of it. Turning himself from his foetal position on the floor Seungcheol directed his tired gaze to the trembling mess in front of him. Jun's face was tear streaked and red and his eyes were puffy and blown wide. His breaths were coming in quick gasps and Seungcheol could just make out the lines of red creating a puddle on the floor behind him. Seungcheol opened his mouth to speak before doubling over in another coughing fit. The pressure on his chest forced him to curl in to protect his chest but as soon as he was able he straightened again looking at Jun's face.

"I'm.." Seungcheol was again interrupted by coughs as his abused throat protested any speech. But as always, Seungcheol persevered.

"I'm okay." Seungcheol locked eyes with Jun telling him everything he couldn't with his voice. That it was okay, that they would be okay and everything would be fine. Then he turned to the camera looking straight down the lens and speaking to those watching. Speaking to his members who he hoped to God weren't watching but knew probably were,

"I'm okay. I'm alive.

Jaeyong was mildly surprised when the guy he was sure was a goner started moving. As his weak body convulsed with coughing, a no doubt painful activity, he was almost impressed by his stubbornness. Most people would have let go. This one obviously had something to hold on for.

Junwoo was similarly impressed and also mildly relieved. While one of his hostages dying wasn't the end of the world it certainly would have caused even more problems. Junwoo waved to Jaeyong.

"Don't re-cuff him to the floor but restrain him with his hands in front and put him back in line."

Junwoo was smart enough to know that the added pressure on the chest from being cuffed to the floor could have fatal consequences. Something he was, contrary to popular belief, trying to avoid.

Jaeyong nodded and moved forward with another of the men and pulled the still groggy and gagging idol back to the line, cuffing his hands in front of him. Said idol was more or less limp again, as his body came down from the adrenaline high it had experienced upon his awakening, his limbs were heavy and tired as his body tried to recuperate. He could feel himself slipping away but he couldn't bring himself to give in to the dark. He turned his eyes to Jun focusing on the boy's beautiful dark eyes.

Jun could see his leaders battle and he knew the stress his body must have been under. He nudged Seungcheols feet with his bound own and closed his eyes. Indicating to Seungcheol that he should sleep. Seungcheol shook his head but Jun gave him a pointed look before changing his expression into his 'puppy eyes'. Seungcheol would have laughed, if his chest didn't hurt so much, at Jun's antics. But the younger male had a good point and it seemed that once his mind registered Jun's assent to sleep he could do almost nothing to stop his body from giving in. He looked up at Jun and the younger gave him a knowing look and a small smile and that was the image Seungcheol drifted into the dark with.

Jun smiled when Seungcheol finally gave into sleep and rested back on his hands feeling the tension bled from his body. It was then the pain he caused himself finally registered. A sharp spike of pain spiked up his arms reminding Jun of the damage he had caused to himself. Seungcheol would definitely not approve. Jun winced as he jostled his wrists. The blood making the cuffs slick and wet and _movable._ Jun's eyes went wide as he realised that the blood was letting his wrists move in the cuffs. Jun's eyes darted to Junwoo and the others in the room but no one seemed to have noticed this development. Slowly Jun started working at the cuffs. Trying to see if he could push his hands through them. Slowly but surely it seemed he was making progress but Junwoo turned around to the remaining conscious, tear streaked, idols and started taking so Jun stopped his actions filing the information away for later.

"Don't think that what just happened changes anything."

Junwoo's words were cold and harsh.

"We will continue with the other punishments until and unless your companies pay up. Is that understood?"

The idols nodded their heads unable to speak.

"Good." Then he pointed at Jun.

"You're next."

The room was in stunned silence from the quick change of events. One second they had been mourning the loss of a friend and the next emotion was complete joy as Seungcheol took those first gasping breaths. SEVENTEEN were all over the place. Some of them were crying out of relief, others had left the room and some, like Jihoon, were still with small facial expressions letting the others know he actually was comprehending the situation.

Jihoon's mind was in a complete shambles. He simply didn't know how to react. One second he had been sure he had just lost his oldest friend and the next he was alive. Jihoon supposed he should be happy. But all he could bring himself to feel was relief. Seungcheol and Jun were still in their captors hold and Jun's 'punishment' was next. SO he couldn't bring himself to feel happiness but relief was certainly present.

Other idols in the room, Namjoon, N, among others were still in shock. While death had certainly been a possibility thrown around by the bad guys it hadn't really hit them that the people on the screen could actually die. It hadn't hit home and with recent events that fact made a home run. It left the idols in shock and scared because they were down to the last 3 punishments and then what? Their companies weren't paying the ransom. They'd all figured that much out. So what next. Would they really see them all killed? It was an unspoken question that hung over the group like a dark cloud. A great looming unknown that had so much importance.

The NIS control room was in an equal state of shock. Similarly while death had been thrown away the kidnappers had yet to show any lethal tendencies. But the near drowning of SEVENTEENS leader had dispelled all those thoughts and the situation got a whole lot more serious. Seungri was pacing along the back wall as Min did her best to locate the hidden IP. Lee Suk was getting more and more worried as every second ticked by. The critical rescue time was drawing closer and closer to an end and they desperately needed a location in the next 10 minutes.

Min was well aware of the time limit but she couldn't work any faster. He fingers were already flying over the keyboard running program after program trying to locate the IP's GPS location. As she sent off another locator program one of her running programs lit up green. Hurriedly she clicked on the blinking light scanning the information as it came through. A lot of it was junk but the last few lines were absolute gold.

"We've got it!" Min literally jumped out of her chair turning the screen to the camera.

There scrolling on the bottoms were a set of latitude and longitude coordinates.

"Is that it?" Lee Suk asked almost unbelievingly.

"That's it."

"We found them."

Jun was livid.

Anger boiling beneath the surface of his calm exterior. As soon as Seungcheol had drifted off he had turned his eyes to their captors, eyes burning holes in their bodies. If looks could kill they would already be 6 feet under. It was an unusual state for the usually goofy, compassionate Chinese native. Jun did however, have great self-control and refrained from doing anything that was cause him or anyone else any further harm. Jun kept wriggling away at his cuffs checking how fast he could get out of them. He wasn't sure how it was going to help him but he figured if an opportunity arose that it was better to be prepared.

At the same time he couldn't help but feel the panic rise slowly in chest. Jun had now watched 4 people be tortured and he couldn't say he was looking forward to his own turn. Panic was an emotion Jun was well acquainted with but never before had it felt this bad.

The NIS was in full go mode. People were running around everywhere at full speed. The tactical team had to be ready in under 10 minutes in full combat gear. Luckily almost everyone had been on standby for when they got the locations. Lee Suk was shouting instructions into his radio getting things set up and prepared. The ETA to the location was 13 minutes so speed was everything if they were going rescue the idols before the punishment time ran out. Seungri had disappeared from the room running back to the rooms the other idols were in. He first ran into the main room with the T.V, throwing open the door so hard it banged into the wall startling everyone in the room. Seungri was out of breath and as such needed a few seconds to catch his breath before he could give the room the good news.

"They got the location."

The room erupted.

All sense of formality or tradition dropped as everyone scrambled for information. In the end it took Leeteuk standing on the sofa and yelling for quiet before Seungri could properly explain.

Seungri explained as quickly as possible what had gone on and what was going to happen next. There was complete silence as he spoke but the minute he finished he was inundated with thanks and various pairs of arms found their way around him as he literally had the life hugged out of him. Seungri quickly passed off any credit for what had happened in a rare act of humility, but he was stunned by the words of the youngest defacto leader in the room.

"No. I'm thanking you because you gave someone else the chance to find my brothers. Even if you didn't find them yourself you were the catalyst. I have hope because you found a way. Thank you so much. We'll never be able to repay you. Now we have a fighting chance."

Taeil bowed a full 90 degrees holding the position before coming up and looking Seungri straight in the eyes. Seungri was immensely moved by the youngers words and quickly enveloped him in a hug.

"It was the least I could do."

Taeyong slowly came to, awareness creeping in unwanted. Everything hurt. That was the first thing his tired mind registered. Pain that seemed to come from the inside out rattling through his body. At first his sense didn't seem to work but slowly his hearing came back, he could hear the breaths of the people next to him and he could hear the quiet sobs escaping his Maknae. Touch was next to come back. Suddenly he could feel the cold ground again, a sensation he was becoming way too used to he might add. Last was his sight. His eyelids didn't seem to want to cooperate, so it took a bit of work to get them to finally open on the world around him. It was mostly as he had left it dark and damp. He was mildly surprised to see Jiyong awake and Seungcheol unconscious and completely soaked an ever-increasing puddle forming around his shivering body. He also noticed that unlike the rest of them he wasn't cuffed to floor instead he was lying limply on his side hands cuffed that way. Obviously, whatever had been done to him was bad enough that they had decided not to re-cuff him. Unfortunately, he couldn't ask anyone for an explanation as the gag was back in his mouth. Instead he slowly pulled himself to his knees. Eyes meeting each person awake and answering their non-verbal questions as best he could. Then finally he turned back to his Jisung. The poor boy eyes were red and puffy from crying and the spark in his eyes had long since been stolen. Instead his eyes were very much a reflection of Taeyong's own ones; scared, tired, hurting…. hopeless. Something broke inside Taeyong at the sight. Jisung should be worried about homework, his next dancing competition, first crushes not the life and death situation they found themselves in. It wasn't fair and there was absolutely nothing Taeyong could do about it. When Taeyong had the strength to start asking the younger how he was all he got was a resigned, teary shrug and Taeyong's heart shattered.

Jun was getting more terrified as the clock ticked down. A few minutes had gone past and two men had set up a wooden pole in the centre of the room. The top had a hook that Jun guessed was for his handcuffs. Neither of those two things were what was scaring Jun. What was terrifying was the dark red patches dried into the wood. Jun couldn't tear his eyes away fast enough for the image not to be burned into his own mind. His thoughts taking up with ideas of his own blood being added to the patchworked colours on the wood.

Jaeyong surveyed the weary idols with interest. One of them was still unconscious but the rest were awake. The change in the idols was really remarkable. When they had first taken them they all had so much spirit in them. Now they were shells of those people. They still had fight in them but the fear, pain and exhaustion was finally taking its toll. Jaeyong smiled thinking about it all. It was only one more punishment until his one and he was more than excited. Jaeyong figured he must have done something right recently the way fate was treating him currently. But for now he had another idol to whip into shape. Jaeyong laughed at his own joke before signally his men to remove the Chinese boy from the line. Technically they were early but Jaeyong really couldn't care less and the last punishment had been short due to the other boy passing out. When his men removed the Chinese idol the confusion was clear on the faces of the others eyes darting between the clock, the Chinese kid and his men. Jaeyong was happy to let them be confused. It made them less comfortable.

Jun's heart was beating so hard he thought it was about to come out of his chest. He had been pulled from his position on the floor by two large men. Jun tried to stand on his own two feet rather than be dragged along but his legs just wouldn't cooperate. His legs had gone to sleep after him sitting on them for so long. This left Jun dangling between the two men as he was dragged to the post in the middle. The men threw Jun towards it and he did his best to avoid any of the ominous red patches as he fell against it. The men then grabbed his hands unlocking the cuffs and fastening them to the post before stepping away. Luckily Jun's legs finally decided to start working and he could push himself upright. He was facing the pole though so it didn't make much of a difference except lessen the pressure on his arms and shoulders. Jun tried to turn around to see what was happening but was quickly and brutally slammed back into the pole. Jun's vision was temporarily covered in black spots before his vision cleared and the threat of unconsciousness disappeared. He then felt someone untie the gag and as soon as the gag was removed Jun coughed a few times before licking his extremely dry lips. He didn't attempt to speak as he was 90 percent sure any talking would quickly result in his head hitting the pole again and Jun asnt keen on bringing any more pain upon himself at least that's what he told himself until he felt hands tugging at his shirt.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Feeling the cold hands Jun instantly rebelled pushing his body away from the grasping hands. Jun tried to avoid the hands but he was firmly pushed into the pole to keep him from moving. Another voice, Jun recognized as Jaeyong's, cut in above the guy manhandling him,

"Just cut it off"

 _Cut what off?_ Was all Jun could think until he again found hands tugging at his shirt. This time however, another set of hands was keeping him firmly pressed against the pole as someone efficiently cut his shirt of him. Without the protection of his shirt Jun felt the cold even more than before and a violent shiver tore through his body his muscles clenching through the spasm.

Jaeyong was mildly impressed by the actions. The Chinese native had a nice back, no doubt a dancer and a graceful one at that given his lines. Jaeyong moved slowly over to the idol gauging the reaction of the other idols. To his absolute delight Taeyong looked terrified as did everyone else but their reactions didn't matter as much. Reaching the Chinese idol Jaeyong lightly traced the lines on his back. Jun jumped as soon as the fingers touched him looking for a way to escape the wandering hands but there was literally nowhere to go. Jaeyong smirked feeling the idols reaction deciding to mess with the kid a little bit more,

"You know if only you'd been here a little longer.

 _I'm sure we could have had so much_ _fun."_

Jaeyong whispered the last part into the idols ear expecting him to shudder or react scared in one way or another. He was not prepared for the head that threw itself back into his own head head-butting him with great enough force the tears pricked at his eyes.

Jaeyong sprung away from the hostage grabbing at his head,

"Ahh you little!", Jaeyong was enraged.

Jun was holding his head against the pole waiting for the retaliation that was sure to come at one point of another. He didn't regret it though even though it wasn't terribly thought out. The man just started talking and Jun couldn't take it anymore and reacted the only way he could. With his head. Jun smiled to himself he could almost hear Minghao whining _That's not how you use your head!_ But he didn't regret it. At least he didn't until the first streak of white hot pain streaked its way down his back leaving a line red trail behind it. Jun couldn't contain his cry both out of surprise and pain.

Jaeyong was livid. He had honestly had it up to here with these damn idols causing him pain. Reaching over to where the whip was sitting Jaeyong let his hand fly. The whip was thin and left a small red line against the idols skin. When the whip first connected, and the cry was wrenched out of his victims throat Jaeyong could have sighed in pleasure. Jaeyong continued to whip the younger man watching as his previously unblemished skin became more and more marked by running red rivulets of blood. Every time a new cut would open and another sound would escape the dancers throat Jaeyong couldn't help but feel more and more satisfied. Jaeyong put a little bit more power into the next whip and the idol literally was forced into the pillar in front of his as a large gash was opened from his hip bone almost all the way to his shoulder. At this point the idols back was running red and his breathes were coming out in short gasps obviously close to losing consciousness but Jaeyong didn't stop.

Jun was grasping at the handcuffs above him desperately trying to ground himself as whip after whip fell against his back pulling grunts and cry's out of his lips. The pain was indescribable and just when he thought he'd reached the height of pain the whip would fall again and a whole new level would emerge. Black spots were colouring his vision but there was nothing he could do about that. The hem and top of his pants were quickly becoming soaked with his own blood. It didn't take much for Jun to realise that he was going to pass out very shortly his only question was whether it would be from pain or blood loss and would he wake up? The first part of his question was answered very quickly as Jaeyong repeatedly whipped the same point on his back sending him crashing into the dark but the second part remained unanswered.

Junwoo watched as the unconscious dancer was pulled down from the pole and tossed back in line. The ground underneath slowly was turning red as the red lines extended from the tattered back of the motionless man. Time was apparently no longer on Junwoo's side. They were left with only two uninjured idols and not a single company had made any contact yet and while Junwoo did enjoy hurting the pampered artists he also wanted a profit. Junwoo scanned the idols before reaching a firm conclusion. If he couldn't get the companies to pay there were plenty of people who would. It would take time to set up an auction and get people here so he would have to delay the next 'punishment' so that they buyers would be here for it. Junwoo supposed he would allow the idols the extra time to clean themselves up and fix what they could of each other's wounds. They were all attractive young men but nice features and bodies are hard to see if covered in ones own blood. Mind made up Junwoo waved Jaeyong out of the room and explained the changes.

"Contact any buyers and get them here in the next hour. Cash only transaction and nothing under 500,000 USD."

Jaeyong nodded, "But I still get my turn right?"

Junwoo smirked, "Of course"

"We need to show off the merchandise."

Jisung was terrified, he had been for the entire time. He was terrified when the masked men pulled him from his bed, when he was forced to handcuff his friends, when Jiyong was beaten, when Minseok had to hurt Junmyeon and Taeyong, when Seungcheol stopped breathing and when Jun was covered in red. It was all terrifying. It was for this reason when the door again reopened to admit strange men Jisung had been sure that it was Taeyong's turn and he was about to watch his brother get tortured. So when instead the men started releasing everyone, removed everyone and everything from the room and left them with a first aid kit Jisung was left stunned for a minute before Taeyong voice startled him out of his daze.

"Jisung-ah, the first aid kit!", Taeyong was slowly pulling himself up, eyeing the slowly growing red patch under Jun, as were the other idols. Minseok snapped himself out of it first. Pulling himself quickly off the ground he quickly and pulled the heavy case over to the Chinese native. Jisung too had rushed over to the older dancer seeing if he could rouse him.

"Jun-hyung" Jisung lightly tapped the man face, "hyung, wake up." Alas there was no response.

"Don't worry Jisung-ah. It's probably better he's unconscious." Minseok gently placated the younger while pulling supplies out of the kit. Gauze, sterilizer, stitches.

"He's right. The wounds are bleeding too much which tells me there is at least one cut too deep that will need stitches to close. " Jiyong broke into the conversation. "Trust me he won't want to be awake."

Jisung nodded to confirm he had heard them both. Then helped Minseok roll Jun over onto his front so the older man could treat the wounds.

"Oh my God" Jisung couldn't help the exclamation.

To say Jun's back was a mess would be an understatement.

In fact, if you were given a picture you probably couldn't even tell that it _was_ a back. The skin was completely shredded and there were pieces of loose skin, barely connected, just hanging off in places. It was all a mass of red. The sight shocked the whole room and it took a good few seconds before people started moving.

"Shi…" Minseok was the first to move ripping off his T-Shirt and pressing it to the boy's back in an effort to stem the extensive bleeding. Knowing that he needed to be able to work Minseok quickly pulled Jisung over, as he was the only other mobile person in the room, instructing him to keep pressure on the two largest gashes. Jisung did as he was told and carefully applied pressure to the wounds watching as the blue shirt slowly darkened to red. Soon enough the red starting filtering onto Jisung's hands but he kept pressure.

Minseok was frantically working on the Chinese idol. But there was only one of him and about 24 separate lashes. In the end, Minseok did it in section the bottom, middle, and top sections. With each section he cleaned best he could, applied an anti-bacterial salve where possible, stitched anything that needed it then body wrapped the section in gauze. The whole process took around 45 minutes. In that time Jiyong and Junmyeon had treated Taeyong's wounds and then each other's. The one idol missing from the picture was Seungcheol. The rapper had still not woken up which wasn't completely surprising given his condition, but it was a little worrying.

Minseok finally stepped back from Jun inspecting his work. His entire back and torso was now white with a few patches of red showing through the pristine bandages. Minseok clapped Jisung on the shoulder

"Good Job Jisung-ah"

"Ah, me" Jisung pointed to himself, "But you did all the work. You were amazing Hyung!"

Minseok smiled at the praise, "I couldn't have done it without you."

Turning away from the unconscious man Minseok was pleased to see everyone else was awake and had managed to more or less treat one another with varying degrees of skill. Jiyong had a plaster that was already sliding off his face. Which wouldn't have been that amusing if it hadn't been a hello kitty one. Minseok's guess was that the elder didn't know what it looked like when it was applied. Evidently the producer also noticed it was coming off and reached up to replace it. The different facial expressions Jiyong went through in the following moments of realisation were hilarious.

"YAH! Who put this on me?" Jiyong pointed at Junmyeon, "It was you right?" Junmyeon had the decency to look sheepish. However, wherever that discussion was going to go was quickly ended by the reappearance of Junwoo, Jaeyong, the Tech crew and a whole stream of people dressed in suits and expensive dresses.

 _What the hell?_

The last person to enter the room was Junwoo and the first thing he did was address the camera that was live streaming. Looking straight down the camera Junwoo spoke coldly and detached as if talking about the weather.

"Given the lack of response on your part I have decided to change the rules of negotiation."

 _No. We still have 2 hours!_ Jiyong's mind was running at a million miles an hour from that single sentence. A change of the rules now means something has gone drastically wrong. Which can only spell disaster for Jiyong and the other idols.

"This is now a live auction."

The room was in stunned silence.

"What does he mean an auction?" Taeil whispered to N,

"I don't know but keep quiet for now. He looks like he's going to explain himself."

Junwoo was indeed explaining himself. His voice sounding tinny coming out of the TV speakers,

"How this is going to work after my clients have had a chance to inspect the merchandise we are going to start bidding. At any point any of you companies can choose to pay the ransom which will mitigate any previous bidding and your idol will be released to you. Otherwise, they will each be sold off to the highest bidder and be removed from my care."

Junwoo leaned in close to the camera making sure his expression would be conveyed,

"And I promise any pain they experienced here will be nothing on what these people have planned for them." Junwoo straighten up again "I am going to end the feed to allow my clients to inspect the merchandise without the whole world watching. We will be back online in around 30 minutes. Feel free to pay the ransom at any time."

Then the feed went dark.

"Oh my God." The cry was whispered out of Jihoon's lips as his eyes remained fixed on the blank screen.

Similar expressions and smalls exclamations came from the other idols left in the room. Namjoon was the first to address the group as a whole,

"I know it looks bad but don't forget that the NIS already have a location and are on their way as we speak."

That got a few nods and sighs of relief as the knowledge that the police were on their way came back to them.

Jaebum nodded, "That's right. There's no way that they can 'inspect' them, whatever that means, and conduct the auction fast enough for the police not to get there."

"I hope to God you're right."

Jiyong was livid and struggling against the men who were restraining him after his lunge at Junwoo,

"You can't! They're children! Literal children! And you want to sell them off to these pieces of crap? You know what will happen to them! Don't you have a heart at all?!"

Junwoo was getting tired of the mans yelling and turned to the struggling man. Grasping his chin roughly in his hand forcing the man to keep eye contact Junwoo spoke slowly and carefully,

"No. I don't care." Jiyong felt like Junwoo's black soulless eyes were staring right through him, "right now you are all profit margins to me and all I care about is how much I get for you. After that I don't care."

"So you would sell a 17 year-old child to make a profit."

"Yes. Now shut up." Jiyong craned his neck back as another man tried to fasten a gag around his mouth again but quickly gave up upon the man's insistence. Losing strength here would do no-one any good.

Jisung was huddled into Taeyong's side as he watched everything with growing horror. This was the worst case scenario. He was going to be sold off to some creepy old man and taken away from Taeyong-hyung and everyone else and he was going to be all _alone._ Jisung wasn't too young to not know what was going to happen to him the moment he was sold and the very thought of it was enough to make him want to throw up.

Taeyong was in a similar state of absolute dread. He tightened his hold on his dongsaeng keeping him as physically close as he could. There was no way out and any hope Taeyong might have had of rescue was slowly dying. If they were spilt up there was almost no chance that they would ever be found again. Taeyong was distracted from his own thoughts by Junwoo's grating voice.

"Feel free to inspect the merchandise if any of them cause any trouble, or if you'd like them restrained please ask one of my men and they'll have it done."

Junwoo then turned to the idols,

"If you cause any trouble it will not be you that is punished but one of your friends and I promise it won't be pleasant. Am I understood?"

Junwoo kept eye contact until he got shaky nods and low growls of affirmation. Turning back to his patrons,

"Please come and take a look"

The so called inspection was quite easily the most uncomfortable and humiliating thing that had ever happened to the idols.

The men and women obviously knew what they were doing and made short work of prodding and pulling at their bodies. It took all of Jiyong's willpower not to bite down on the hands that forced his mouth open and counted his teeth. Jun placed himself protectively in-front of his unconscious leader. Not that it did much good. Within minutes people were pushing and pulling on his limp and unmoving limbs.

"Please be careful" was all Jun could get out before someone was pulling at his face. Minseok and Junmyeon stood side by side as their measurements were taken and their features inspected. One guy even bothered to check the beds of their fingernails. Every time one of the men or women touched either of them they had to repress an involuntary shudder of repulsion. But, they didn't resist knowing that it would do anyone any good at this point. Jisung and Taeyong were perhaps the most sought after idols after Jun, whose native Chinese features sparked a lot of interest, and had to deal with people literally inspecting almost every single part of their bodies. The made them both remove their shirts , which Taeyong almost protested to on Jisungs behalf but restrained himself from, the contrast between Jisungs unblemished skin and Taeyong's multicoloured one a stark reality check. The buyers kept prodding at Taeyongs bruises to see how deep they were causes Taeyong to wince and flinch in pain. But it was nothing compared to the turmoil his youngest was going through. Taeyong had had days to get used to feeling violated and dirty, this was a first for Jisung with the wandering hands of unknown people. Every time a person would touch the dancer he would violently flinch away before being brought back, terrified of each unwanted touch. The only blessing was that the buyers were avoiding the private areas, a small mercy but one the idols were extremely grateful for. Eventually everyone seems to have gotten what they wanted and they filed back to the other part of the room. The shaken artists quickly regrouped themselves together. Taeyong once again had his Maknae in his arms feeling so much better even though the protection he offered was woefully inadequate. Now they were left waiting for the next thing to happen. They didn't have to wait long with the buyers apparently more impatient then even Junwoo.

"Can we get this started please I have places to be". The man talking was an older man, probably later 40's, in terrible shape. Junwoo nodded not fussed with starting things before the 30 minute time limit. Turning back to his techs Junwoo had the feed reconnected. Then he moved in front of the camera as his men went back to restraining the idols behind him pulling them away from each other.

"Welcome back. I hope you are all rested from our short hiatus now we shall continue on shall we. As we have still not received any information from any companies we will be proceding with the auction after a demonstration for our esteemed guests here. It also works ot as this was meant to be the next punishment as well and heavens knows Jaeyong would not have liked it if we didn't do his one. I do believe he's been waiting an awfully long time to make it happen. As previously stated if at any point we receive contact from you we will halt the auction and punishment and release your idols to you. But until then..

Jaeyong he is all yours."

Jaeyong was literally beaming as the mattress was brought it. He sauntered over to his red haired beauty bending down so that they were at eye level. His eyes which had once been filled with fire and defiance were less of a fire now and more like the leftover embers. Nevertheless, TAeyong still made eye-contact with him and glared with whatever strength he had left in him.

Jaeyong smiled.

Reaching out to grasp the matted hair Jaeyong pulled the idols head back exposing his throat. Placing a soft kiss at the bared flesh. Taeyong wriggled and tried to move away but to no avail, the cuffs and Jaeyong's grip in his hair left no room for movement. Pulling away Jaeyong spoke directly to the idol.

"Let me make one thing clear to you. You are going to let me do whatever I want to you without making a fuss. Do you understand?"

"And why the HELL would I do that"

Taeyong's emotions were all over the place. He was equally parts terrified, horrified, angered and panicked. But he knew what was coming and he wanted none of it. In fact, all he wanted to do was run and hide away from this world that had literally tried to trample him to pieces. If this man thought,] he was just going to roll over for him and let him do whatever he wanted he was completely wrong. At least that was what he thought.

Jaeyong knew that Taeyong wouldn't do anything for him. I mean come on. Fortunately, he had a very good piece of leverage. Jaeyong had been with this kid for days now and he knew how he worked and he knew he would do literally anything to keep his precious maknae safe.

Jaeyong smirked, leaning away from Taeyong so that his voice was clear and everyone could hear.

"Your going to do exactly what I tell you to because if you don't I'll just swap you out with young Jisunggie instead."

Jaeyong smiled as realisation dawned,

"In fact, I'll give you a choice either you do as I say willingly or I'll just take it from Jisung. I'm sure our guests won't mind which one of you I use as a demonstration."

"You wouldn't. HE'S A CHILD!" Taeyong was so scared. He knew he couldn't let this man near Jisung but he also couldn't fathom giving himself over to this man. Taeyong was no fool he knew the minute he said yes this man was going to rape him. Live in front of thousands of people. But he couldn't let Jisung get hurt.

Taeyong's shoulders slumped and Jaeyong knew he had won.

Unlooking the boys cuffs Jaeyong pulled him to his feet.

"Now go lie down"

Taeyong turned to look at the distraught faces of his friends and fellow idols. At some point they had all been gagged except Jisung. Their were tears in all of their eyes and the older ones were struggling against their cuffs. Taeyong almost couldn't bring himself to look at Jisung but the dancers quiet voice pulled his attention.

"Hyung"

As Taeyong's eyes met Jisungs he couldn't help the tears that quickly filled his eyes rushing to the younger Taeyong through his arms around him wiping his tears.

"Don't look ok. Promise me you won't look."

Jisung's teary eyes met Taeyong's and he could barely get the words out

"I promise hyung"

Then Taeyong was pulled away from the Maknae.

I'll let you off this time but the next time you don't do exactly as I say when I say I'll take Jisung instead."

Taeyong shakily nodded before slowly making his way to the mattress on the floor and laying down.

"You all need to leave." Leetuek had made up his mind the minute those disgusting words staring pouring from the man's mouth. Leetuek quickly got to his feet standing in front of the screen.

"We all know what is about to happen here if the police don't get there on time and that is something neither he nor any of them will want you guys seeing."

The room was eerily silent

"I can't leave him alone." The voice was broken and already choked with tears. All eyes turned to the eldest NCT member who was sitting alone with his head in his hands. "I can't let him be alone in this." Leeteuk walked over to the tearful singer kneeling in front of him.

"Taeil-ah" Leeteuk lifted his head so he could see his eyes, "You know Taeyong wouldn't want you watching this."

"I Know but I cant bear the thought of him being alone."

"I know bu.."

"I'll stay" Kyungsoo's quiet timbre broke through "I Know you don't want him to be alone and we need someone here to know what is happening. Leeteuk-hyung and I will stay. He wont be alone but Leetuek-hyung is right none of you should be here for this."

Taeil couldn't stop the tears as he collapsed into the arms of the soulful singer.

"I'm sorry"

"Shhh, its okay Taeil I'll take you to your member yeah?"

"Okay hyung, you'll need to explain this to them anyway. I don't have Taeyong's ability to make them listen to reason."

"Okay, lets go"

On the way out the heard the end of Jaeyong's threat and they both stiffened before leaving the room with only Leeteuk in it.

It didn't take long to find the NCT members not with so many of them being in one place. The minute they saw the tear streaks on Taeil's face they were up and asking questions. Kyungsoo quickly got them to calm down and was thankful when the rest of his own members filed in bringing Mark and Kai plus the ex-members with them. This would be easier with their help.

"It's turn for Taeyong's punishment, but, we've sent everyone out of the room and no one is allowed in unless they are myself or Leeteuk-hyung"

"What?"

"Why?"

"Guys listen," Taeil's soft voice cut through the babble, "Taeyong wouldn't want us to watch….what's happening is beyond horrific trust me."

"Why? What's happening hyung?" Ten was frustrated at the lack of information and sudden blockage.

Taeil looked helplessly to Kyungsoo. Deciding it would be better to go with the truth than hide it Kyungsoo spoke plainly,

"I'm so sorry, but they're going to rape him."

The room was silent before the tears came.

"No.."

"They can't."

"Monsters!"

"I'm so sorry"

As he laid down Taeyong's thought were filled with the faces of his family, of his members and his friends. He felt the weight settle on top of him and tears trekked their way down his face.

"I'm sorry."

Taeyong was floating.

Mind in a different completely different place.

There were no ransoms or punishments here just happiness and laughter from memories of days past. Laughing at Winwin adorable antics as he tried to reject his member's affections, Haechans over the top explosions, Ten's flirting and his members teasing. It was so much better here.

But he was never really floating even if that's what it felt like. His consciousness was hiding in the deep recesses of his mind as he disassociated from the reality he was in. Taeyong knew what was actually happening to him, it was impossible to completely escape it. However, it was far easier to hide in the airy, light memories of days gone past that face the cruel reality.

Every time his body would move it would jar him from the fictional reality he had created from himself. The pain addling his mind and contorting his features. The tear tracks staining his dirty and pale skin.

Breaking.

He was breaking.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Junmyeon was empty.

Completely drained of any emotions bar deep heart-wrenching sadness and despair.

His eyes were filled with tears and his cheeks wet from those that had already fallen much like everyone else.

His heart despaired for the young idol being violated in the worst possible way and there was nothing he could do about.

Nothing.

Many people wouldn't ever know the relationship the two leaders had formed but it was Junmyeon Taeyong called after Hansol left. It was Junmyeon that consoled the younger when he struggled with having to keep up a brave face for his team but still reeling on the inside. It was Junmyeon that Taeyong went to for advice. It was to Junmyeon that he shared his doubts about his ability to lead his team especially after the trouble his so-called scandal caused. The two shared a burden that only leaders can understand. The doubts, the pressures from your team, the pressures from the company, trying to act as a middleman and often ending up on the outside of both circles being able to give neither what they wanted. Junmyeon had done his best to be a good example to Taeyong, but also to show him the realities of leadership. Most of the time Junmyeon was in awe of the youngers abilities. At his age, he wasn't nearly as good. Plus, Junmyeon knew that even though he was officially only the leader of NCT 127 it was Taeyong that went to all the meetings with management for U, it was Taeyong who was unofficially in charge of NCT 2018 and Junmyeon knew Taeyong also did his best to be there for DREAM as well, supporting Mark in his role as best he could. It was Taeyong that NCT looked to for guidance. Which was a big responsibility for such a young soul.

And now…

Junmyeon didn't know what to do.

Jiyong was beyond raged.

Out of everything that had happened to them all this was the worst by miles.

Straining and pulling at his cuffs and screaming into his gag Jiyong poured out his outrage and the pathetic excuse for a man on the floor.

One of the men had obviously had enough of the noise and cracked his pistol across the back of the producers head stunning the younger man.

Dazed and mind addled with pain the tears came hard and fast.

Jiyong couldn't even pinpoint the exact thing he was crying about, the unfairness of the situation, the loss of innocence, the utter deprivation, or the pain. Regardless the tears came. Through blurry eyes, Jiyong stared into the camera hoping that someone on the other side had found something to save them all from this hell.

Otherwise, Jiyong knew, they wouldn't last a week.

Jun was numb. The tears kept flowing but he barely felt them.

He had turned away as soon as Jaeyong had knelt down unable to watch. But the sounds were enough to make him throw up.

One of the guards had thankfully noticed what was happening and removed the gag just in time as Jun lost what meagre contents there was in his stomach.

The sick mixed with the other contents on the floor, the water from Seungcheol's still body and the blood from his own.

The whole situation was sickening and it was all he could do to keep himself from dry heaving.

Jisung was devastated.

He didn't look he had promised and had turned away the second his hyung had been removed from him.

His sobs shook his whole frame, desperate and heaving with each new breath.

One part of him was desperate for his Hyung to push the man away and let him take his place but the other was grateful it wasn't him and Jisung was disgusted at himself. He knew that this wouldn't be what Taeyong would want, his idiotic self-sacrificing hyung would do anything to keep him safe, but it didn't stop the feeling of regret bubbling up.

A choked cry escaped Taeyongs lips which had remained stubbornly shut the entire time and Jisung's whole body jerked fresh tears streaming out even though Jisung was sure he didn't have anymore tears left.

The sound caused him to start hyperventilating and black spots danced in his vision. Just before he passed out the only thought Jisung had was the maybe it was better this way.

Leeteuk couldn't watch the screen. Rely instead on his hearing to tell him if he needed to look to remove his eyes from where they were stuck to the floor.

The feelings of utter despair and revulsion he was experiencing were second only to when he found out his father had murdered his grandparents. The tear tracks on his cheeks were a testament to his earlier sobs but he couldn't bring himself to cry anymore instead being numb to it all. It was only the grip he held on Kyungsoo's hand that kept his mind from drifting.

The other singer was also in tears. Barely holding back the sobs that threatened to burst out at any moment. Neither man could bear to watch the screen eyes only flicking up occasionally out of necessity to know what going on.

"The police must be close right?"

Kyungsoo's voice was hoarse from all the crying.

"I pray to God that they are"

Jaeyong pulled himself upright adjusting both his own and the others clothes. The smirk he wore was full of satisfaction and it made even Junwoo shiver a bit. Jaeyong leaned down pulling the younger sideways towards the line of idols, laughing even as Taeyong hissed in pain. Throwing the used idol on the ground Jaeyong ran his hand through the other matted hair,

"Thanks for the good time baby"

Taeyong raised his eyes to the man that would haunt his dreams for as long as he lived, however short that might be, tears again filling them but desperate to show that he was not completely broken and that he was not just some man's toys. He knew that if he didn't say anything he would regret it for the rest of his life.

If he even had a life to go back to.

The first time he tried to speak his voice caught in his throat, unable to form the words.

Jaeyong leaned down still with that terrible smirk plastered on his face,

"What was that baby?"

Taeyong literally had to pull all the courage he possessed to look Jaeyong in the eye, shaking like a leaf, voice unsteady and cracking but he delivered the one line he needed to to ensure that this monster knew that he was not his toy,

"I hope you rot in hell you bastard."

Following his line, Taeyongs eyes fell to the floor unable to keep his eyes up and make contact with anyone else. Too ashamed of himself. It was only then that he noticed the unconscious form beside him. Sheer panic shot through his heart as he took in the still form of the always moving dancer. The only reason he could endure his own pain was because he knew it wasn't happening to Jisung. Reaching a shaky hand over to his right Taeyong gently shook the maknae desperately waiting for his eyes to open. He was so relieved when bleary and groggy eyes turned to him going wide and filling with tears. Taeyong, who had been left uncuffed given the unlikely hood of a man barely being able to walk attempting an escape attempt, quickly gathered the younger into his arms and let himself go. Sobbing deep tears as he grieved for his own self. Rocking his equally distraught dongsaeng Taeyong cried for the loss of the innocence of his fun-loving maknae and the loss of what had once been his.

Junwoo turned back to his buyer satisfied that they had been given a decent show.

"Now you have all had a demonstration of the merchandise would we like to start bidding. You are all aware that the opening bid is half a million USD?" At the nods and assents of his buyers, Junwoo turned back to the camera laughing to himself. These people really had too much money to blow,

"Just a reminder you do have the power to stop this. Just pay the ransoms"

Turning back to his buyers he walked behind the idols,

"We'll go from right to left so starting with Jiyong do we have an opening bid?"

"500,000 USD"

Black on Black,

the SWAT team were fully encased in tactical gear from head to toe. Hard Kevlar body protection and standard issue assault rifles for the incoming breach. The target building was straightforward enough. It was an old warehouse built shortly after the second world war. There were few windows on the site but from those they had visual on there was large amounts of movement inside the building. The building, according to the city council blueprints, was split in 4 section. The ground floor held the main packing and housing centre from when the warehouse was actually used as a packing facility rather than a criminal hideout. The second floor was split in two sections or what appeared to be offices and a staff room type of area. The team was certain they could secure all 3 of these areas with little to no causalities.

The last area presented something of a problem.

The final area was located underground in a bunker built in post war world two conditions. While they had no doubt they could breach the doors there was only one way in and one way out. This increased the risk of causalities exponentially. When people were boxed in with no way out they tended to react extremely, the bodies flight or fight response kicked up to 100. IN most situations SWAT wouldn't breach into an area like this at all and wait it even though there were over 30 leaders of the criminal underworld in that room. The threat to the hostage's lives was too great.

The decision to move in was made by the families and companies of the men held captive.

It was pretty much either move in and hope the element of surprise works enough to prevent loss of life, wait it out and engage once they were out of the building where the hostages would be at greatest risk, or wait until the hostages had been removed from the location and have individual teams work on each hostage.

None of the available option had a success rate higher than 40% where the hostages were not harmed at all.

From what the leader of the tactical team understood, all 3 options had been presented to representative from each company, group and where possible at a moment's notice the family. The decision was no doubt hard to come to.

If only he knew

 _15 minutes earlier_

"I'm sorry what?", T.O.P's jaw was hanging open, "You want us to do what?"

Lee Suk pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing in deeply before continuing,

"We need the group of you to decide on a course of action. We found the building and we know where they are but none of the options presented to us are good. We need your approval to proceed because he chance of harm coming to one or more of them is so high." Lee suk paused again before continuing,

"Look, I'm really sorry it's come to this but if we don't do something now we might never get them back at all."

"We need an answer as soon as possible", with that Lee Suk turned towards the door,

"I'll be outside, come get me when you have a decision.

The only parents in the room were those of Junmyeon, the only ones close enough to get here in the 5 minutes given to get everyone together, their eyes were wide and tearful as they watched the NIS director leave the room. Turning to the other assembled people in the room, Lee Soo Man and his aide, a representative from Pledis, YG and his assistant, Taeil, T.O.P, Woozi and Kyungsoo, they asked the fateful question,

"So what do we do?"

There was silence for a few beats before YG spoke,

"I think option one.", the rep from Pledis also nodded, "At least with that option we have the element of surprise."

"But they'll be cornered with nowhere to go. Wont they turn immediately on the hostages?", Woozi voiced his concerns.

"I don't think so" Lee Soo Man spoke, "People tend to try an address the threat that's right in front of them than think about the people around them. If 20 armed SWAT soldiers kick down their door I'm pretty sure their attention will be focused there. At least for the majority."

"Are you willing to risk their lives on that majority?", Kyungsoo almost clamped a hand over his mouth when he realised he had voiced his thoughts aloud.

Surprisingly Soo Man took it in his stride, "No I'm not willing to risk their lives at all. But we don't have a choice at this point."

YG nodded indicating his support as did the Pledis rep. Junmyeons parent gave a very hesitant affirmation. The idols exchanged a set of looks with one another before almost simulataneously allowing loud sighs to escape their bodies.

"Ok, lets get Lee Suk-ssi then.

Back on the warehouse the bidding was coming to an end. After an almost surprisingly fierece bid for the Chinese native a Japanese man won the war with a bid of 3.2 million dollars. Jun's eyes grew progressively wider each time his price went up, especially after it went above the prices of the 4 idols before him. Jiyong went for 2.3 mil, Jun thought he'd be the most expensive but he realised that these people weren't really looking for a person's reputation, Junmyeon for 3 mil, Minseok for 1.7 and Seungcheol for 1.1, no doubt the still unconscious state of the idol deterring most buyers.

"And well won by Mr Akazuza" Junwoo stepped over to shake the winning mans hand before directing him to Jaeyong to make the payment.

"Now we move on to the two most anticipated young men of tonight. The ethereal Taeyong who graced us with a demonstration earlier, and the young Jisung who still is full of a life ahead of him."

Taeyong personally thought Junwoo was laying it on a bit thick with the ethereal comment but wisely kept his mouth shut.

"We'll start the bid this time at 2 million USD for Taeyong"

2.1

2.5

3

3.1

3.5

3.6

The numbers kept going higher and higher and with each new figure Taeyong felt his disbelief rise. Who the hell pays this much for a battered and used human?

4

4.5

5

7

That did it. The final bid was 7 million made by a Korean couple who had spent a good 10 minutes inspecting both Taeyong and Jisung earlier whole paying no attention to the others. Taeyong could only sigh to himself. 7 million was how much he was worth. People are always talking about how life is precious and priceless but he guessed none of those people had been in this situation. Taeyong allowed his hand to creep back to Jisung's once the bidding for the youngest started. The younger was shaking and Taeyong squeezed his hand tightly hoping to transmit some sense of comfort to the other. Jisung smiled shakily at his hyung squeezing his hand back.

If any of the idols had been surprised by the prices for any of the others prices or bidding wars than Jisungs blew them all away. The fierceness of the competition surprised even Junwoo but he couldn't help but smile at it. This meant more money for him after all. The bidding had just hit double figures when a loud bang echoed from outside the closed door. Initially everyone ignored it focusing on the increasingly violent bidding war. They were all about to be shaken out of their furore as the large black door up the stairs was blown open.

"Basement breach begun"

Every eye turned to the smouldering door as figures in black poured through the opening. s

There were screams and cries from the buyers and henchmen and shouts of 'put your hands up' and 'drop the weapon' 'NIS' from the figures in black.

Then the shots started.

When the men first burst in everyone was too shocked to do anything and many of those closest to the door were quickly dispatched of.

But the shock didn't last forever and quickly the room erupted into gunfire.

The loud bangs of the gunfire filling the cramped room.

Red streaking the walls and floors.

More screaming and shouts of pain as the men in black quickly gained the upper hand. It was clear to anyone watching that the men in black had the upper hand in the situation.

Junwoo knew it too.

And he was enraged by it.

He watched as his men and his clients fell to either gunfire, surrender or hand to hand combat.

He also watched as the men in black also fell

But not nearly quick enough

He knew that it was only a matter of time before the bullets reached him but he was intent not to go out alone.

Instead, he turned his gun on the idols still kneeling on the floor

Looking them dead in the eye he spoke

"I told them not to interfere"

The SWAT Team captain saw the movement at the back as the main target swung his gun on the hostages.

"Main target 12'o'clock!"

The bullets from his own weapons sprayed into the man but not fast enough to stop him from pulling his own trigger as he fell sending bullets spraying into the room.

When the doors first burst open it sent fear spiralling into Jiyongs heart. The fear was quickly overridden with an indescribable sense of relief as the large white letters on the chest of the invading men told him that they were here to rescue them and not harm them. This was then offset by the absolute chaos caused by the SWAT team as the thugs and buyers took up arms against them. The sound of the loud gunshots in the small room causing his ears to ring painfully. Jiyong desperately wished he could cover his ears but his wrists we still firmly held behind his back.

A fact he had not so desperately wished he could change as the moment Junwoo turned his gun towards them with fire spilling from his eyes.

He saw the moment the bullets hit Junwoo body, red spilling out.

But he also saw the moment his finger tightened on the trigger and pulled.

Jiyong wrenched himself sideways to avoid the bullets heading in their direction, crying out in pain as his shoulder twisted unnaturally.

Almost instantaneously he heard it

The thump of bodies hitting the ground

Then silence

Then a cry of pain and a steely voice

"Make another move and he dies"

Junmyeon and Minseok experienced similar situations as Jiyong. The loud noises causing their ears to hurt and their senses to become disorientated.

When Junwoo turned the gun around they both tried to get out of the way.

But only partially succeeding.

Minseok felt the bite in his left arm as one of the bullets grazed the fleshy part of his upper arm on the way through, blooding immediately flowing from the wound.

Minseok clenched his teeth as the pain hit but even the pain couldn't distract him from the silence and the following threat.

Looking upwards to the sound of the all too familiar voice Minseoks heart clenched in fear at the sight of the bleeding Jaeyong holding up an equally bleeding smaller figure

"No"

When the shooting started the only thought on Jun's mind was Seungcheol. His leader was still unconscious and unaware of anything going on. Pushing at his cuffs Jun applied pressure to the cuffs wincing as the bit into his skin but smiling, as just like last time, his wrists slid out of the cuffs. Hearing Junwoo speak Jun turned his attention to the livid man. Eyes widening at the sight of the gun and without a second thought throwing himself over his leader as the gunshots went off.

The next thing he felt was blinding pain.

Jisungs eyes were fixed on the barrel of the gun pointed directly at him.

He couldn't really hear what Junwoo was saying as everything sounded like it was underwater. But the intent was very clear. He Jisung saw the vicious twist to the man's face, he saw the mans body jolt as it was hit by bullets and he saw the gunfire.

The next thing Jisung saw was white and red

Pain

Hot

Jisung

Pain

Blurred

Movement

Upright

More Pain

Another Person

Words

Threats

Pain

Taeyongs mind was moving sluggishly as he attempted to understand what was going on.

The first thing he registered was the burning pain in his left shoulder.

The next was the cry of pain from his youngest whose hand was clutching at a bleeding calf.

"Ji-Jisung-ah", Taeyong lurched towards the fallen dancer only to be pulled back by a much stronger force reminding him of the third thing he noticed.

Movement.

No longer was he on top on his Maknae but rather pressed up against another body as the hot metal of a recently fired gun prodded at his temple heating the skin.

Taeyong mind wasn't thinking coherently. The pain in his shoulder and the overwhelming emotions he was experiencing clouding his mind and senses. But if there was one thing that sobered a disorientated person was a direct threat to one's life from a particular person.

"Make another move and he dies"

That voice was guaranteed to wake Taeyong from his stupor.

"Jaeyong"

The arm around neck was uncomfortably tight and he could feel his breathing quicken.

"I swear to God that if anyone moves his brain will be splattered on the wall"

"Does anyone have a shot"

The SWAT leader waited for confirmation from his remaining team members

"Negative"

"Negative"

"Affrirmative"

"Op 3 repeat confirmation"

"Affirmative, left frontal lobe shot available. Permission to fire"

"Granted"

The next thing Taeyong knew was that he was falling

A burning pain

Then nothing.

"HYUNG!"

"Oh my God"

The room was silent.

Eyes glued to the screen unable to remove the vision of the unfolding chaos. Once again the idols and parents had gathered in the main room. There had been debate whether or not they should allow everyone back but given the very real threat to the lives of the hostages there was nothing any of the adults or leaders could do to dissuade their presence. How do even say no to a 17 year old with tearful eyes as he resolutely declares in stilted Korean that if he's never going to see his best friend again he's going to be with him for as long as he can no matter what. Yeah no one had an argument for that one.

The room was overcrowded and given the amount of bodies in the room it would have in any other circumstance been filled with chatter and laughter. Not Today. The room was near silent as they watched the bidding was at one point Taeyang even commented that GD's price was far below what he was actually worth which elicited a few chuckles. The mood quickly returned to its sombre one.

Cue to the gasps and exclamations as the SWAT team made their entrance. Absolute chaos reigned on screen. Arms and hands were grabbed onto in solidarity as a mini war raged on screen. Their kidnapped friends making themselves as small as possible. At some point a man stood in front of the screen blocking the view of what was going on.

"Come on move!" Baekhyun yelled at the screen.

Then just as if by magic the body jolted and fell to the floor leaving red splatters on the camera lens.

Baekhyun's mouth hung open.

"Oh my God"

The man had obviously been shot and many of the squeamish idols in the room hid behind hands or other people.

The shock didn't last long though as the SWAT team quickly moved through the room, in fact, all seemed to be going perfectly until a voice off camera spoke

"I told them not to interfere"

That voice was recognizable to every person in the room as Junwoo, the man behind the whole plot. Almost immediately there was two burst on gunfire, one from a SWAT member and the other from offscreen.

They saw Jun and Taeyong leap from their crouched position, brains taking a few seconds to wonder how Jun had managed to get out his cuffs, this was quickly overtaken by the red spots growing on Minseok, Jun, Taeyong and Jisung. They weren't given a moment to let the fact that they had witnesses their friends/members be shot before another familiar figure was striding towards the crouched idols. The room watched as Taeyong was yanked from his position where he had more or less fallen over the tall Maknae. Th watched as Jaeyong pushed the barrel of his own smoking gun to his head. It was clear the Taeyongs brain wasn't quite functioning as his movements were sluggish and his eyes were moving slowly but he seemed to come to his sense about the same time a line of red streaked its way down his arm and to the floor creating a puddle.

The scene on screen froze as Jaeyong threatened the idol in his arms. The room full of idols was just as frozen which is why when the shot rang out nearly everyone in the whole room jumped before refocusing on the screen where both Taeyong and Jaeyong had fallen to the ground.

The next thing they heard was Jisungs terrified scream for his Hyung, the next was from the closest SWAT member.

"GET THE MEDICS IN HERE NOW!"

Then the feed went black.

Everyone blinked twice before realising the feed had gone off.

"What happened!?" Came from about 6 different mouths at the same time.

Everyone was looking at each other for an answer but no-one had one. For about 5 minutes they checked other media sources to see if the feed was live anywhere else but no it was off for everyone giving control of the broadcasts back to the broadcasters who were scrambling to get restarted. News outlets were the first back up out and there were already people reporting on the situation.

Cue to door opening to an out of breath Lee Suk. He was immediately bombarded with questions and had to ask for silence before speaking.

"I know you're all concerned and want answers but let me give you what information I have and then we can go from there. Is that ok?" Lee Suk waited for an affirmative before beginning again,

"The operation was a success meaning we got all of them out alive as of right now. However, as I'm sure most of you are aware they aren't in good shape and have all been through some form of physical harm. Some are worse than others. As of right now they are being emergency airlifted to the nearest hospital that meets the security requirements which happens to be a Seoul Military Hospital. Those of you who are in the groups of those that were taken will have the opportunity to move from this location to the hospital. The rest of you will need to stay here for another day or two until we can assess whether or not the threat has been completely nullified. Those of you not in the groups of those taken will not be able to see them for at least another 3 or 4 days" this sparked a degree of protest, "I know it's not what you want but we have to take precautions, you'll be allowed to see them once their doctors allow it. Alright any questions for now or can we start the transfers?'"

Surprisingly there were none most of the idols choosing to wait to ask questions until later when there would be more information available.

"Ok, first can I speak to the members of NCT and EXO… Privately." Said emebers looked up and upon seeing the grim look on Lee Suks face instantly felt their hearts plummet.

Lee Suk held open the door,

"Let's talk outside."

Lee Suk's face was grim, mouth set in a hard line. NCT and EXO filed out of the room into the open hallway and waited for the man to speak. They would be lying if they said their hearts weren't in their throats and their mouths had all gone dry. Lee Suk took a deep breath running a hand through unkempt hair.

"I need you to understand the conditions of your members before we go to the hospital because it's not looking good." Lee Suk figured it would be better to just get it over and done with but he couldn't bring himself to deliver the news detached like he would usually. There was something about the way that these idols, some of which children, all waited with sorrow filled and dead looking eyes that just broke something in Lee Suk's heart. There was nothing to be done however, they needed to know. Lee Suk first turned to EXO, both current and ex members,

"Minseok-ssi was grazed by a bullet but for the most part he is completely fine, a little dehydrated, but overall fine and conscious." There were small sighs of relief at that.

"Junmyeon ssi is in a much more critical condition. The damage done to his body by both electrocution and what appears like multiple beating has left him in terrible condition. He lost consciousness shortly after the rescue. His internal and external conditions were bad enough that the Doctors plan on putting him into an induced coma once he arrives at the hospital to help with the recovery. The biggest concern currently is the internal damage done by the electricity." Lee Suk finally stopped speaking, finally making eye contact with the group members. There tears, looks of shock but also relief which was surprising and a little confusing however the youngest members quickly cleared up the confusion.

Sehun looked Lee Suk straight in the eyes, "He's in bad shape but he'll live right?" Lee Suk nodded mutely, "Then that's good enough for now." There were a few muttered exclamations that Lee Suk couldn't pick up on but he was amazed at how the idols were handling the news thus far. He had no clue though how to deliver the next set of news. He had told parents and family members when their loved ones had died under his command, he'd been to and spoken t countless funerals but for some reason giving the facts to these kids was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do… but it had to be done.  
Lee Suk turned to the members of NCT and again began to speak and watched as their expressions slowly turned from relief to horror and sadness.

"First of all, Jisung was shot in the leg but the bullet looks like it went straight through the fleshy part, so it shouldn't be an issue, the doctors, of course, will confirm this." The first part was met with nods and small sighs of relief. "The person in the worst condition currently though is Taeyong-ssi." The next few sentences would be some of the hardest of Lee Suk's career, "As you are all aware of Taeyong was one of the original hostages and has been subjected to all sorts of beatings, electrocution, rape and malnutrition. On top of this he was also shot through the shoulder and one of the artery's was clipped on the way through," Lee Suk could literally see the light fade from the younger idols eyes, "Due to this he lost consciousness." Lee Suk took a deep breath before continuing, "He lost a lot of blood and his body had been through so much trauma that he slipped into a coma.

They don't know if he will wake up."

There was silence

"I'm so sorry"

"Wi-will he die?" The shaking question was asked by a tearful Chenle whose eyes were wide and pleading. Lee Suk just shook his head.

"We don't know, we need to wait for the Doctors assessment but it's not looking good."

"Will we be able to see him? This question came from Jaehyun,

"I don't know the doctors will keep us updated. The best thing we can do now is move you all to the hospital and wait for the doctors. You'll be able to see Minseok and Jisung I imagine."

There were no more words exchanged only nods and murmurs as Lee Suk showed them to the 4 black tinted vans. Lee Suk stayed behind as the vans drove off to Seoul Military Hospital and Lee Suk did something he hadn't done in years. He prayed.

"God if you're listening then keep those kids safe and bring them home safely."

When Seungcheol finally awoke it was to the tearful and smiling faces of his friends and family.

Confusion reigned at first as the last thing he remembered was the fear and pain he had felt while being held hostage, but, his panic and confusion were quickly diminished by the reassurances of one bandaged Wen Junhui. The other situated in the only other bed in the room. With quiet words and explanations, Jun explained what had happened to the other and how they found themselves in the hospital surrounded not by enemies but by friends and family. Seungcheol was extremely tired and fell back into sleep quickly but his dreams were lighter and void of fear. Jun smiled at the peaceful face of his sleeping leader eyes fixed on his chest as it rose and fell in a constant rhythm.

The hours following their rescue had been hectic as they were rushed from the warehouse they had been kept in the hospital they were currently in. Jun didn't remember a lot of it having fallen in and out of consciousness through most of it. The gunshot wound he got while covering Seungcheol had lodged itself in his left shoulder and the excessive damage done to his back took hours of emergency surgery to repair. Then he was released into a recovery ward where his members and family, who had flown over from China, could see him. Seungcheol was already in the duel room by the time Jun had woken up. The older man having gone through multiple MRI, CT Scans and X rays to make sure that his brush with death hadn't left any permanent damage to his body. But, luckily, aside from having strained muscles and some excess water in his lungs Seungcheol was mostly just physically drained from the ordeal and would recover in the coming weeks. Jun's healing process would take significantly longer and the 53 stitches in his back slowly allowed his wounds to heal and eventually the stitched would need to be removed. The gunshot wound would require extensive physical therapy to get his shoulder back to normal and the doctor's estimate was that it would take at least 3 months before he would be able to even attempt stretching never mind dancing. The fact that he wouldn't be able to dance for at least 3 months saddened Jun but his friends and family were quick to distract him. All SEVENTEEN activities had been suspended for the time being so, for now, Jun and Seungcheol would heal and take pleasure in being surrounded by friends and family.

When Jiyong had arrived in the hospital the first thing that had happened was a full detox of his system to remove ant traces of the drug Junwoo had used on him. Following that it was scan after scan as the doctors looked for anything more serious than the bruise. In the end, Jiyong ended up with two broken ribs and fractured wrist and a broken thumb most of which he hadn't even noticed he'd done. After that, he was sent to bed rest in a private room where his family and members were waiting. He'd heard the story of how they'd been found from one of the NIS officers so when he was finally wheelchaired into his room the first thing he did was call Seungri over and pull him into a hug.

"Thank You, Seungri"

Seungri was surprised by the out of character affection but was quick to return the hug,

"Anything for you hyung"

Jiyong was quick to request a full story from their point of view and Seungri and T.O.P were quick to provide one. However, halfway through the produced fell asleep. The members exchanged knowing looks before carefully manoeuvring Jiyong so he was resting comfortably in the hospital bed.

"No worries Hyung, we'll finish the story tomorrow."

Elsewhere in the hospital things were silent except for the beeping of the machinery and the soft breathing of the occupants of the room. It was less than 24 hours from the rescue and it already felt like an eternity to the 11 idols and the family members present. Junmyeon's body was covered in lines and tubes connecting him to the multitude of machines currently aiding his recovery. The leader of the nation's boy group was completely still except from the constant rise and fall of his breaths. But even those were being regulated by a machine. The doctors had said that they were going to start bringing him out of the induced coma in the coming days but the recovery period would be long and hard. The MRI scans showed that his internal organs and muscles had been near ripped to shreds from the electricity and due to the other abuse it had taken his body simply didn't have the ability to heal itself at the moment. Abruptly, Minseok stood and left the sealed ICU room ignoring the twinge of his own injures from his swift exit. His exit pulling the others in the room from their own thoughts. Yixing stood as well,

"I'll make sure he's okay" Everyone nodded and Tao stood as well

"I'll come as well." Lay nodded and the two walked out together searching for the eldest.

The room became silent again after the door closed behind the two Chinese natives each individual lost to their own thoughts.

The search for the eldest was not going as planned. Yixing had thought that the older man wouldn't have been able to get much of a head start on them but evidently he was wrong. Minseok was nowhere in sight. Yixing sighed running a hand across his face. _Alright Yixing_ he thought to himself _if I were Minseok where would I go if I wanted to be alone?_ Yixing thought about it for a moment. He couldn't have gone outside given the sea of reporters and news agencies outside the hospital which only leaves a few places Minseok would go to for quiet; The library, the lounge or the roof. _The Roof_ Yixing turned to Tao,

"I'm going to head up to the roof and see if that's where he's gone. Can you please check the library and the lounge." Tao quickly nodded promising to call if he found his wandering Hyung.

With that the two split up. Yixing jogged to the elevator hitting the up button and impatiently tapping his foot as he waited for the lift to arrive. When the lift doors finally opened Yixing hurried inside hitting the button for the roof and the close door button. On the way up Yixing thought about what he was going to say to his hyung but nothing prepared him for the sight that greeted him on the roof.

Minseok, with knees pulled up to his chin, curled up on one of the benches crying his eyes out. Yixing was struck still for a moment before running over to him.

"Hyung…. Minseok, what's wrong?" Lay was deeply troubled by the fact that his teammate had come all the way up here just so he could cry by himself. Minseok was barely able to get words out of his mouth to communicate with the distressed dancer.

"I..dont. know what.. t-to do Yixing." Minseok, ran his sleeve harshly across his face in an effort to get rid of the tears. "I just don't know what to do. Everyone is depressed and sad and thats exactly the opposite of Junmyeon would want us to be doing. But, I don't know how to fix it or if I even can. While at the same time we're all acting like he's dying even though the doctors told us he'll wake up and recover when just down the hall one of our own is actually dying and… and they're all just CHILDREN! Minseok doubled over for breath as he tried to collect himself. Yixing just stared with wide eyes.

"Oh hyungie" Yixing didn't know how to respond or if he even could. After all what he said was right. Walking into Junmyeon's room you'd think that he had died by the mood in the room. Which wasn't fair. He was alive and he was healing and barring any further complication he was going to wake up and heal and be fine.

"I'm sorry Yixing, I just couldn't hold it in any more' Minseok's voice shook with regret, "I didn't mean to yell at you."

Yixing shook his head, "No, its okay, I think I needed that anyway"

Yixing sat next to Minseok on the bench taking his hand.

"I think…" Yixing started slowly, "That you need to go tell the others what you just told me. And then.." and this would be the hard part Yixing thought to himself, "We need to go talk to NCT and get them out of that room for a minute."

Minseok shook his head. "I can do the first part but there's almost no way I can see getting any of them out of that room. They're all terrified that if they look away for even a second he'll be gone."


End file.
